Tears Of Memory
by ChillifyVilify
Summary: The Ocarina of Time is an ancient device capable of manipulating time itself. It is beyond mortal comprehension, and as such, its true power is unknown. Using the Ocarina improperly can turn reality on its head, and the consequences of this ignorance can be devastating, especially to those that remember what happened before. Post OOT, but also not post OOT. Cover art by Agent3Novi!
1. Prologue: Null & Void

**So, uh… This is new. And it's a bit out of my comfort zone, because as opposed to jumping from one person's perspective to another, we are being confined to Link's point of view. This is annoying because it means that I always have to be doing **_**something**_**, and when I run out of ideas for a part, I have to come up with something, rather than jumping to another character's perspective. So if it's not good, we can blame that.**

**DISCLAIMERS: **

**\- If I owned Legend of Zelda, I would be morally obligated to rename the series to Legend of Link. However, contrary to popular belief, Darth Furiz does not own Legend of Zelda.**

**\- No animals or people were harmed in the making of this fic.**

**\- No money was made from the production of this fic.**

**\- The views and beliefs stated in this fic do not necessarily align with those of the author.**

**\- This fic is rated T for gore, excessive swearing, extreme angst, and far too much dark magic. You have been warned.**

**\- The author is not being blackmailed into writing these disclaimers.**

**\- On an unrelated note, PLEASE REVIEW.**

_Prologue: In the Wake of an End_

Link awoke to the sound of birds cawing and crickets chirping. The clouds over the forest were dark, signifying that it was either late at night or early in the morning-

Wait. Forest? Since when was he in a forest? His last memory was of Zelda saying goodbye as she sent him back with the Ocarina of Time. The last time he was in the forest was when he was delivering that poultice for that one depressed fellow who eventually turned into a Stalfos, probably. The Hero of Time stared at his hands, confounded. Even in the dark, he could clearly see that he was in his child form, his palms having none of the callouses he had garnered during his adventure. Now that he looked around, he could see that he was in his childhood home in Kokiri Forest, which would explain the lesser fairies zipping around outside the little cloth he called a door.

Was any of it real? Or was it all just a dream, a make-believe adventure inside of Link's head? Was there anything outside of the forest, or was it just more forest? Or did the world just abruptly end, with a sheer cliff being the only thing separating him from the endless expanse of space?

If he were less tired and confused, he would have noticed that he was lying with his head to the left of the door, not to the right like he remembered.

"Hey, freak!" a voice rang out. "What's up with the lightshow? You're keeping everyone up!"

Regretting every instant of action, Link hauled himself out of his tiny wooden bed and peeked out the door. Sure enough, the entirety of the Kokiri populus, lead by their self-appointed 'boss', Mido, had gathered around the ladder leading to the small patio of his house.

"What lightshow?" he asked groggily. He instantly noticed how high his voice was. He hated it with a passion.

"Don't play dumb, Mister No-Fairy!" Mido yelled accusingly. "You can't tell me you didn't see the big old blue pillar that just shot out of your house? None of us could sleep through that, not even you, lazypants!"

Link cocked an eyebrow, which had little effect due to the heavy tiredness trying to force his eyes shut. "I have no recollection of this 'big old blue pillar' of which you speak," he replied curtly, adding on additional quotation marks with his fingers.

Somewhere in the distance, an owl hooted and something else groaned.

Mido scowled, an expression that was not hidden by the darkness. "But you— we all saw— whatever! Just stop it, okay, fairyless?"

Link rolled his eyes exaggeratedly, noting that little had changed in terms of Mido's temperament. "Go back to sleep, guys. Wake me up if anything happens, okay?"

The forest inhabitants shrugged at this and returned to their homes, apparently similarly eager to go to sleep once more.

The former Hero of Time, upon noticing that everyone had left, drunkenly staggered back into his tree house, threw himself back into his rock-solid bed, and slumbered.

He didn't think it was odd that he slept with his eyes open.

**!0*0!**

Link awoke again in a cold sweat, this time to sunlight streaming through his window directly onto his face. He rubbed his eyes to shake the rest of his lethargy out of his system, and instantly noticed a slight headache that he tacked up to fatigue from his final battle with Ganondorf. Maybe Saria would have some herbs or something to alleviate it.

He casually exited his bed before lurching forwards. Something felt off about his balance, like his center of mass has shifted without him realizing it. The best option would be to carry something on his back, in order to add more weight behind him to stabilize his body. That made sense; he must have grown used to the weight of a sword and shield secured to his back. Link eyed a rake leaning in the corner of the room before grabbing it and slinging it over his left shoulder- only for it to clatter to the ground with a bang. The former Hero of Time turned, confused, before looking down at his attire. Ah, that was it: The sash on his torso was put on wrong. Instead of going over his left shoulder, it went over his right. Link chuckled to himself over the small matter and proceeded to replace the shirt with another, only to realize that all of his tunics had the sash going over the right shoulder. Odd. It wasn't an issue, though; all he had to do was clip the rake over the right shoulder instead of the left. The gardening tool felt natural in this state, and while his mind told Link that this was wrong, it still felt oddly right.

He absentmindedly wondered who would be waiting for him at the bottom of the ladder that day. He had estimated that there would be at least a fifty-fifty chance of it being Saria, but if it wasn't her, than it was probably Mido and the rest of the Do's. They were all relentless bullies, and Link could distinctly remember crying to himself in his little tree house before he had met Navi.

Navi… Where was she now? Link glanced over at the bulletin board by his bed, noting that it was in the wrong place before glancing at the date. If his memory was correct, tomorrow was the day Navi was going to appear to him. Link couldn't wait.

His headache chose that moment to intensify. It felt like all the energy was being drained from him. Link wasn't a fan of the feeling at all.

Having affixed his Kokiri hat onto his skull, Link stepped out of the tree house to be greeted by… no one. Funny. He couldn't remember the last time nobody was waiting for him at the foot of his house. Then again, he couldn't remember the last time he walked out of his tree house as a child, either. Shrugging, Link turned around and backflipped off of the patio, landing squarely on his feet. The forest was just as pristine as he remembered, and there was still a certain magic in the air. Of course there was, because the Great Deku Tree was alive. The Hylian breathed in the fresh, crisp morning air, relishing in its purity.

"Hey, Link. What's up with the rake?"

Link glanced up and to his right, instantly noticing the picket fence that should have been on the other side, to see one of the Know-it-all brothers sitting on top of it and grinning at him like absolutely nothing was wrong.

"Hey. The rake is… well… I was… planning to do some… weeding? Uh, sorry for asking, but I swear the fence was on that side. Am I senile, or what?" Link replied, pointing towards his left.

The other Kokiri gave him a weird look. "What are you talking about? The fence has always been on this side, or my name isn't Soyyo!"

Link laughed lightly. "Good point, Soyyo. I've just had this headache since the thing last night, and-"

"Oh yeah, the lights. What was that, anyway?"

Link paused. _Me going back seven years after fighting a giant bipedal pig, unless it never happened in the first place_ probably wasn't the best thing to say, now that he thought about it. "No clue," he settled on.

Soyyo shrugged, clearly not buying it. "Well, okay. Have fun clearing the weeds."

"Don't worry, I won't," Link replied sarcastically.

An hour passed. Link wiped his brow, seeing that his task was finally complete. _Huh, I barely broke a sweat. I guess saving the world is pretty good exercise. And to think that I made ten rupees just by clearing out some grass…_

A small chorus of quiet footsteps echoed throughout the forest. Link looked up to see one of his few true friends among the Kokiri, not to mention future Sage of Forest, Saria.

"Hi Link!" she said, a grin spreading across her features.

"Hey, Saria," Link replied, bearing a similar smile. "How's everything been?"

"Great! I've been working on a few whittling projects to pass the time."

"Cool."

They stood there in companionable silence for a while before Saria spoke again.

"So… what's with the rake? And the lights?"

An expression of pain crossed Link's features for a split second before he subdued the feeling. She didn't remember. How could she have remembered, and yet not comment on it? Nobody was within earshot, there would be no risk. She couldn't have remembered, and deep down, he knew it was true, but he wanted to be wrong so desperately...

"I was just doing some weeding outside my house," Link explained, fighting to keep tears out of his eyes.. "As for the fu- light show last night… well, no idea."

The forest girl shrugged. "Fair enough, I suppose," she sighed, sitting herself down on a rock next to Link. "Sorry if this is coming out of nowhere, but have you ever wondered what happens if we left the Lost Woods?"

"Well, you die, of course. You should know that, everyone does," Link said, laughing nervously. "Besides, Joe would never let us."

Joe was the Kokiri assigned to protecting the Kokiri from the outside world, which boiled down to him standing in front of the exit and not letting anyone through.

"I guess that makes sense," Saria said, letting the conversation die.

As time passed, the forest filled with more and more Kokiri denizens, as they scrambled throughout the small town, many of them singing and playing like the carefree children they were. He could see Fado sitting on top of an ancient stone pillar and looking over the village like it was all hers.

It wasn't.

Why was he being so sardonic all of a sudden? His mind absently flitted to the monstrosity at the Bottom of the Well, with its many hands erupting from the bloody ground and clawing at his head, holding him in place while the blood-soaked corpse shuffled over to his prone form, salivating at the thought of ripping him to shreds…

Right. That was why, assuming it wasn't some vain delusion. Zelda had supposedly sent him back to relive his childhood, but after all the things he'd supposedly seen and experienced… Link wondered if childish naivete was forever out of reach.

His thoughts drifted further into his adventure, reliving everything that had happened. He remembered the transformation of the Gerudo King Ganondorf into the massive bipedal hog Ganon, fueled by undying rage and the Triforce of Power. He remembered Sheik, and all that time Link thought she was a boy. He remembered Zelda, and Darunia, and Ruto, and Nabooru, and Impa, and everyone else he had met and had become friends with. Would any of them remember what he had done?

"Link?"

Link blinked, suddenly returning to reality to see Saria looking at him worriedly. "Sorry about that, I zoned out," he explained, hoping that would be enough.

It looked to have worked, as the look of worry dissipated. "I was just asking you about what you've been up to recently."

"The usual." _Saving Hyrule. Fighting the King of Evil. _"You know, avoiding Mido and all that."

Saria shivered as a sudden breeze filled the village. "I see." She thought for a moment. "You really ought to take that rake off. It's going to hurt your back if you keep wearing it."

"Doubt it," Link replied, but he took it off anyway.

Maybe it was better to let the past - future? - become nothing more than a memory.

**!0*0!**

His headache hadn't improved. If anything, it had gotten much worse. What had started as a minor inconvenience had quickly morphed into a pounding migraine, actively inhibiting the boy's attempts to slog his way through the day.

"Link, are you okay? You're clutching your head really hard and it looks painful," Saria said, obviously concerned.

"I'm fine, Saria. Just a headache," Link tried to assure, utterly failing. Trying to prove his point, he detached his hands from his head to pluck an apple from a nearby tree.

"Must be a killer headache," the Kokiri girl replied wryly. "Oh, I didn't know you were left-handed! I thought you were right-handed!"

"Huh?" Link questioned, confused, until he noticed that Saria was staring at the apple he was eating with his left hand. "No, I've always been left-handed. I'm the only left-handed person in the village."

"But… that's not true," Saria said. "I'm left-handed, Mido's left-handed, Ted's left-handed… everyone in the forest is left-handed. Everyone knows that."

"It's not important," Link assured.

"Well, it's possible that you're ambidextrous, meaning that you can use both your left and your right hand with roughly equal levels of dexterity," Tuyyo, the other Know-it-all brother, supplied.

"Ah!" Link exclaimed, dropping his half-eaten apple in surprise. "Don't _do _that!"

"Well, would you like me to scream ten seconds in advance before I talk to anyo-" the Know-it-all brother started before cutting himself off, his gaze glued to Link's left hand.

Saria looked at the slack-jawed Kokiri like he'd spontaneously grown a second head before following his gaze and stopping dead.

"Guys? Come on, you're making me self-conscious," Link said nervously, raising his hand to rub the back of his neck and grinning sheepishly, an old habit he hadn't quite broken.

Then he froze. _Damn,_ his hand was cold. And oddly bony.

The boy peeled his hand off of his suddenly clammy neck and brought it in front of his face to figure out why it felt so different.

What he saw was more than just disturbing.

The skin on his left hand had almost entirely peeled away, and the muscle that was revealed looked sickly and pathetic. All the heat had been drained away from it, leaving it as cold as bone. Speaking of bones, the bones of his fingers were visible through the almost-ethereal tendons and ligaments, and if he squinted hard enough he could just barely see some sort of glove that he had last seen in Ganon's Tower on a-

_A Stalfos._

_I'm turning into a Stalfos._

The world converted into several streak of greens and browns as Link collapsed, and his vision swiftly faded to black.

**!0*0!**

"L-k? -i-k, ans-r -e! _Link_!"

He awoke with a shout, panting heavily. Saria, Soyyo and Tuyyo standing over him, worry etched into their features. He glanced at his left hand, and immediately wished he hadn't; more of the muscle had disappeared, leaving almost all of the bone in his hand exposed. Just looking at it made the former Hero of Time nauseous, and he was tempted to turn around and retch until there was nothing left. And after all the terrifying things he had seen in the Shadow Temple, the Bottom of the Well, and in the Kakariko Graveyard - assuming it actually existed- Link was quite confident in his ability to not void his stomach at disturbing imagery.

"I'm fine," Link panted, trying his hardest to sound fine and failing miserably.

"By my reasoning, you are the exact antithesis of fine," Soyyo rejected.

"'Fine' is defined as "of high quality", Tuyyo elaborated. "Your hand predicament most certainly does not fall under that definition."

"I don't need an explanation," Link decided, cutting of the Know-it-all brothers.

"We would recommend you consult the Great Deku Tree for guidance," they counseled in unison.

Link knew that the Great Deku Tree was dying. If previous events were still valid in this mirrored world, it would pass on tomorrow. Any misaction would mess up the flow of time, and he needed the Kokiri Emerald to give to Zelda, who would certainly have a plan to stop Ganondorf from taking over before it ever happened.

However, a greater disturbance of the flow of time would come if he was turned into a Stalfos and doomed to wander the forest forever. So, naturally, he picked the option that would end in the least amount of difference to his original timeline. If anything drastic happened, then Ganondorf would most certainly become the King of Evil again.

"Fine," he spat, shoving his hands into his pockets. He then turned towards the Deku Tree and started walking in that direction.

"Link! That headache must be messing with you worse than we thought! The Great Deku Tree is the other way!"

The Hero paused. He had once again forgotten that left was inexplicably right and right was inexplicably left. His head was swimming, and the world was swirling around him and making Link dizzy. Turning on his heel, he walked away from the entrance to Hyrule Field, barely avoiding tripping over every other exposed root in the entire forest.

"Hey, fairyless!"

Great. Exactly what he needed right now.

The small valley that was the only way to reach the Great Deku Tree was blocked by Mido and his small band of followers - Redo, Fado, Sodo, Lado, and Tido.

"Just where do you think you're going, huh? Do you think that if you go to the Great Deku Tree and grovel at his feet, he'll give you a fairy partner? Well, guess what? Even if you did manage to get a fairy moronic enough to be your partner, you'll still never be a true Kokiri!"

The group nodded solemnly at Mido's words.

"Just get out of my way, Mido," Link sighed, resisting the overwhelming urge to punch him in the face.

"And who are you to tell us what to do, oh fairyless wonder?" Tido inquired in that buttery voice of hers. "You're not even a _real _Kokiri."

"Frankly, it's a miracle you haven't been turned into a Skull Kid yet," Lado spat, shoving Link slightly forwards.

"What manner of beast are you, anyway?" Redo asked, giving Link a look that screamed _I want to vivisect you. _"You're obviously not from the forest, because you're alive, not made of wood, and don't have a fairy. Are you a Wolfos in disguise?"

He proceeded to spit on the ground just in front of Link, barely avoiding landing his spittle directly on Link's foot.

"Why do you even try?" Mido asked, sickeningly sweet. "Obviously, you're never going to be a true Kokiri, because you haven't gotten a fairy yet. Therefore, the Great Deku Tree doesn't want you to be a Kokiri, because he has the power to grant you a fairy. So the Great Deku Tree wants you to be inferior. Because of that, you must be completely inferior to every other Kokiri in every way possible. So I'll ask it again: Why don't you just turn around and leave the forest forever? You'd be doing everyone a favor."

"Let me answer your question with another question," Link replied icily, his words laced with a potent venom. "Why. Don't. You. Fuck. Off?"

There was a blessed silence for all of three seconds. It started drizzling, something that hadn't happened in recent memory in the forest. In the distance, lightning struck, causing a drawn-out thunderclap a few seconds later. The lesser sprites that usually hovered in the air all over the forest had sought shelter long before, leaving the woods unnaturally quiet.

"What did you just say?" Mido asked, almost silent.

"I asked you to fuck off," Link reiterated, pure and unadulterated bloodlust surging through his veins.

"Do you want me to _kill _you, Fairyless?"

"Please. You can't punch to save your life," Link spat. Then he remembered how _well _the self-proclaimed Kokiri boss could punch, and the countless number of bruises he'd tried to hide from Saria on a daily basis, the two molars forced from his mouth by Mido's fist, and the veritable pints of blood he had lost over the years. _I think I'm screwed,_ he suddenly thought.

"You're a fairyless mud stain. Beating you to a pulp again won't break a sweat," Mido said, his fairy instantly flying over to Link and turning yellow. This would give Mido terrifying accuracy, ensuring a clean hit as he dove towards Link, left fist flying towards the fairyless boy's midsection.

And then Link moved. Not backwards like Mido was expecting, which would land him in the awaiting fists of the other bulles. At the last second, Link managed to sidestep Mido's thrust and pinned him to the nearby wall, hands gripping either side of Mido's face and twisting it to the left side until Mido's head was about ninety degrees from facing forwards and into the eyes of his attacker. Due to the way his hands were positioned, one would have to have their head pressed up against the cliffside to see Link's skeletal, corrupted left hand.

The woods had frozen. Even the birds had stopped chirping. The other bullies had given him a wide berth, suddenly awed by the violent attack the formerly timid, fairyless boy had committed on their ringleader.

Link paused. He had half assumed that his previous memories were nothing more than a dream because nobody else remembered, but that couldn't be right, because he very clearly knew how to snap someone's neck like a twig and was able to do it instinctually. Dreams don't give you muscle memory, as far as he knew. He didn't register the entire forest's populus staring at him like he had spontaneously turned into a Stalfos until he turned around and looked at them wearily.

"I assume," Link breathed, "that this clears that argument up."

With that, he released Mido and shoved him away before stalking into the valley, ignoring the Deku Babas that tried to nibble him as he passed. He didn't ignore the one that successfully bit him, and he proceeded to violently rip it out of the ground.

**!0*0!**

"Uh, Great Deku Tree?"

The face inscribed into the guardian spirit of the forest did not move, but Link could sense that its attention was focused on the Hylian boy.

"Link. Why hast thou awakened me?" The tree asked.

"I think," Link said, showing the Great Deku Tree his entirely Stalfos-ified left hand, "that the forest is trying to take me. I've had this killer headache since this morning and I'm turning into a skeleton."

The shock the Tree was emanating was palpable.

"This should not be happening," The Great Deku Tree boomed. "The spirits of the forest are… recognizing you as an adult Hylian, one of extrasilvarian origin. This is incorrect, as it should seeth you as a Kokiri. Fortunately, it is an easy enough fix, so long as you have memorized the last ten thousand years of Kokiri history, pass a Kokiri literacy exam, and pay eight rupees to the Kokiritarian Fairy Board."

Link gulped. This was harder than he remembered.

**!0*0!**

Needless to say, he passed the examinations, even without a fairy.

"Excellent," The Great Deku Tree rumbled. "Thou hast been reinstated as a Kokiri. Why thou wereth unrecognized in the first place is beyond me, but it is fixed now. Verily, thine current condition should stop spreading instantly."

The sun had settled right over the horizon, almost setting but not quite. He looked down at his Stalfos hand, expecting it to quickly revert back to its normal form. It hadn't. If anything, the corruption had only spread, consuming all of Link's hand, wrist, and most of his forearm.

"The headache is gone, but… my hand is still corrupted," Link said, confused. "Can you magic my old hand back?"

"Theoretically, yes, but it wouldst taketh at least a year, which is time we don't have. The Kokiritarian Fairy Board is very possessive when it comes to life energy."

Well, thank you anyway, Great Deku Tree," Link said solemnly before turning around and going back to the village.

_That was almost as bad as the Hylian citizenship test Zelda made me take, _Link thought, shuddering at the memory. _And I might have to take it again._

The reinstatement proceedings had taken the entire rest of the day, and a weary Link was grateful that there wasn't a giant crowd clustered around either his house or the entrance to the Great Deku Tree's grove. Link clambered up the ladder to his little dwelling, curled up into a little ball under his cover, and slept.

Tomorrow, he would see if his adventures outside the forest were a delusion or not.

Probably the latter.

**Well, that was a thing. For those of you who have no idea what's going on, Zelda sent Link back in time too far, and now he has to go back and do everything again.**

**Oh, and it's Master Quest. So everything is mirrored and the dungeons are way harder. This will be fun.**

**Also, Link's thoughts during the MQ dungeons will be loosely based on my thoughts as I went through those same MQ dungeons. Any struggles that Link has are not made up, although I'll cut out the more embarrassing ones - namely, me dying from a Gohma larva attack to the back and things like that. I may add a few insignificant items to the more worthless rooms in certain temples *cough cough Spirit Temple cough cough*, but none of them will be important to the plot.**

**Also, something I want to get out of the way: THIS IS NOT JUST MASTER QUEST OCARINA OF TIME. THERE ARE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MQ AND THIS FIC. PLEASE DON'T HATE ME.**

**Also also, I'm going to be starting a new thing at the end of each chapter that I'm going to call NOOTTD. It's an acronym for Non-Ocarina Of Time Things Directory. And whenever there's an OC or a reference to something else, I'll put it there and call it a day.**

**NOOTTD:**

**1\. Soyyo and Tuyyo are total gibberish. I made it up. **

**2\. The Do's were inspired by Mido and Fado, because do re mi fa so la ti do.**

**Anyway, please review, and if you're interested in reading more of my insane ramblings, don't hesitate to check out my other fics. I will be doing an RRRP for this fic, just like I did in SW:R.**


	2. Chapter 1: Something Isn't Right Here

**What SW:R couldn't accomplish in about six months, ToM did in five hours.**

**We got a review. Three, actually. And one from the legendary ChangelingRin. I'm truly honored. We also got two follows, but that comes secondary to the review milestone.**

**Anyway, this chapter is the reason I made this fic. Just, the idea captured my imagination and is the reason any of the rest of this fic exists. Don't worry, I'm doing the entire story, but things are going to be pretty different in this iteration than in the normal MQ run. Don't you worry. **

**RRRP: **

_James Birdsong: _Thanks!

_FCL: _Yeah, I'm not exactly trying to hide that this is MQ. Kudos to you, though. To answer your other (implied) questions, Link will not be turning into a Stalfos anymore, but that hand still does stuff. Regarding the spiritual stones… well… wait for Chapter 2. But… you gotta get to the cows _somehow…_

_ChangelingRin (who I definitely didn't not refuse to not refrain from not asking to do this): _The Kokiri Citizenship Test is like the Spanish Inquisition: nobody ever expects it. I honestly hadn't thought of this as an alternate dimension, just Link's own past that got warped when Zelda sent him back (although now that I think about it, that does make more sense.) Thanks for the input!

Also, if you thought the Kokiri Citizenship Test was funny, just wait for Navi. Or lack of Navi, anyway.

**DISCLAIMER: If I owned The Legend of Zelda… well… let me just shuffle through my container of un-funny overused jokes… Ah, here's one. I'd completely wipe all mentions of Tingle from the face of the earth. But because I don't own LoZ, that actual monstrosity still exists.**

_Chapter I: Surprising Complications_

Link had forgotten just how much dreams sucked.

_He was standing at the entrance to Hyrule Castle, accompanied only by Navi, the incessant pitter-patter of raindrops on mismatched terra-cotta roofs, and the occasional lightning bolt in the distance. Death Mountain was on his left instead of his right like it ought to have been, and even though Link had grown somewhat used to the odd mirrored world, it still threw him off because it felt so _wrong_._

_The drawbridge began to lower with a rusty groan. Link, knowing exactly what was coming, strolled over to his left to allow Impa and Zelda to pass by unhindered._

_Sure enough, the pair of women bolted past him atop a white horse. Zelda was openly staring at him with undisguised confusion. It was at that exact moment that Link realized that he wasn't equipped with a sword or a shield. Excellent._

_He had been so absorbed in watching Zelda fly by his face that he completely forgot about Ganondorf until his midnight black horse snorted only a few feet behind him. Link whirled around and was instantly frozen in terror by the future King of Evil._

_He looked like he always did, right down to the orange diadem on his forehead. He was dressed in battle armor of Gerudo fashion, and if Link squinted he could just barely make out dried blood caked onto his torso._

_Then Link made the mistake of looking into his eyes. The pupils and irises had disappeared entirely, leaving only a sinister golden glow. The Gerudo stretched out his hand as dark energy began to pool inside it, creating a ball of pure plasma that would surely sear Link through._

_Ganondorf smirked evilly. "And so ends the Hero of Time."_

"Wa- up! -e Gr- D-ku -ree wants -ou! Ca- t- -ate of -e -ntire worl- -oss-bl- d-pend on such a lazy boy?"

Link groaned, feebly attempting to shield his sensitive eyes from the obnoxiously bright sun. _At least I'm not still turning into a Stalfos_, he thought. Why did he sleep so late? Shouldn't he have been woken up by the light? Oh well. The point was that he wasn't asleep anymore.

"Leetle baby man took long enough! We must be going to the Great Deku Tree with much haste!"

"Navi, can't you see I'm trying to sleep?" Link moaned, wanting nothing more than to return back to his-

Wait a second.

Navi?

"Navi!" the former Hero of Time exclaimed, leaping out of his bed to tackle the fairy into a crushing embrace. Even though it had only been a day since he had seen his fairy companion, Link was still immensely relieved that she was back.

"Oy! Ivan appreciates the enthusiasm, but leetle baby man should save it for the Great Deku Tree! Besides… you might crush Ivan…"

Link froze. He didn't remember Navi having such a heavy accent. Surely this was some kind of joke, right? At this point, he was half-expecting Mido to obnoxiously peek into the room and laugh in his face as Ivan reverted back to her usual pink coloring and returning to her Kokiri, glee evident in the way she glowed. Where was Navi?

Not between his arms, evidently, as the fairy that had woken him up was, on further examination, a far deeper blue than Navi was, bordering on royal purple.

"And did leetle baby man call Ivan Navi? Ivan has never heard of anyone named Navi. Ivan supposes it's not important. The Great Deku Tree has requested Link, the leetle baby man without a fairy, posthaste. And it is Ivan's job to bring you to Deku Tree now. There is no time to be wasting!"

Link picked himself up off the ground, still numb from the realization that Navi was gone and probably wouldn't be coming back. Even if she didn't remember any of their struggles, Link would have still appreciated her comforting presence by his side. Now he had to listen to a male, inexplicably un-Navi-like fairy named Ivan.

This would take some getting used to.

Affixing his Kokiri cap to his head, Link stepped out of his little tree house and was greeted by a beautiful forest landscape, with buildings carved out of massive tree stumps easily seven times taller than Link himself.

Footsteps echoed through the little walkway towards his place, and he looked down to see Saria jogging over and waving. At least it wasn't Mido.

"Yahoo! Hi, Link!" she said joyously.

He waved back, and then proceeded to backflip off of the raised platform, much to the Kokiri's chagrin.

"Link! Don't do that! You might hurt yourself!" Saria chastised.

"I know, I know," Link replied sheepishly, habitually rubbing the nape of his neck and immediately remembering his hand's… predicament. "Force of habit."

"If leetle baby man does all things so recklessly, Ivan will be worried he chose wrong job," Ivan said dryly.

It took his forest friend a few seconds of silence to realize exactly what had transpired before she had arrived that morning. "Oh. My. Goddesses. Link! You finally have a fairy! Wow! Now you're a true Kokiri!" Saria exclaimed, giggling. Link noted that it sounded awfully familiar to Zelda's laugh.

"You mean I wasn't a Kokiri before?" Link replied, laughing but still a little hurt.

"I mean, of course you were a Kokiri before, but now it's undeniable!" she amended.

"While Ivan would love to continue watching this exchange, Link has been summoned by the Great Deku Tree. We don't have time to chat," Ivan stated factually.

"Oh! It's quite an honor to be summoned by the Great Deku Tree! Please, don't let me get in your way. I'll wait right here for you!" Saria said amiably, taking a step back so Link could proceed.

"Spasiba, Miss Saria," Ivan acknowledged before turning to Link. "Come, leetle baby man. We must go with all speed!"

Link nodded, following Ivan as he waved back to Saria.

"Could you please stop calling me that? It's getting annoying," Link asked.

"Nyet! It's funny to Ivan," Ivan replied.

"Well, generally, fairies don't outright _insult_ their Kokiri. Na-" Link started, before remembering that Navi was gone, replaced by this other fairy. "I'd just prefer to be called Link, if you don't mind."

"Very well. Ivan will not call leetle man leetle baby man anymore. See? It is better now!"

"It's a start," Link grumbled, approaching the entryway to the Great Deku Tree's grove.

He had received much attention from his fellow Kokiri, who had for the most part been pretty enthusiastic about Link finally having a fairy. Ivan was a character compared to most other sprites, with a personality that didn't fit his small physical form and a much louder voice.

"Where do you think you're going, fairyless!" a voice screeched, as a chorus of quick footsteps squelched directly towards Link. It was Mido. Perfect. Because his day couldn't get any worse than it already was.

"You're going to need a new insult for me, because I have a fairy now," Link said dryly, pointing at Ivan, who had perched himself on his left shoulder.

Mido stared at him blankly for a few seconds before glancing at Ivan. Then back at Link. Then back at Ivan. Then towards the Great Deku Tree. Then back at Link again.

"If leetle baby man would stop gawking like a drunken Skull Kid," Ivan started, "Link has been summoned by the Great Deku Tree. It would be appreciated if you could move."

"Why do you know what that looks like?" Link asked, imagining a drunk Skull Kid and failing to resist a chuckle.

"It is a long story," the sprite answered cryptically.

"Oh, for the love of Farore!" Mido spat. "You're telling me that the Great Deku Tree would summon _you_ and not _me_, the Great Mido? If you're trying to make a joke, it's not funny."

The Kokiri Boss shoved Link back, forcing the Hylian to step a few meters back. _Goddesses,_ he hated not being an adult.

"Like, come on! You're not even properly equipped! You should at _least_ have a sword and shield, even if they're not going to help you because you're a good-for nothing, stupid weakling!"

Forcing a torrent of pure, unadulterated hatred down into the dark depths of his mind, Link turned around and walked away from the Kokiri's self-appointed Boss.

"We should split up. You look for the sword, Ivan will find a shield," Ivan suggested before darting off, not allowing Link to state whether or not he agreed to the plan at all. Grumbling, Link jogged the opposite way, clambering over the small fences and ignoring the many signs that had been erected by the Know-it-all brothers' house. Eventually, he was faced with the tunnel which would lead to the Kokiri Sword, if his memory served him correctly. Swallowing a wave of claustrophobia, Link crawled through the tiny tunnel, eventually appearing at the other side. He turned left, only to be greeted by a wall. Rotating one hundred and eighty degrees revealed the massive boulder that inexplicably rolled in a square formation around an oddly cubic elevated platform. Since the Hylian knew exactly how the boulder functioned, it was easy to outmaneuver, and the triumphant Link casually walked into the small glade and took the Kokiri Sword from its chest. Surely they wouldn't mind if he borrowed it for a while, would they?

He strapped the scabbard to his back - over the right shoulder - and drew it with his left hand, eager to practice with the blade after being sent adrift in time.

His expression morphed from eagerness to shock when he couldn't lift the Kokiri Sword. It hung uselessly in his fist, and try as he might, Link simply couldn't conjure the strength to perform even a basic swing. Perhaps it had something to do with his Stalfos hand. Come to think of it, why were all the Stalfos so identical if they were all once their own people, drained of life by the forest itself? And how did they all wield that same jagged blade that evaporated into mist when they died? It probably had something to do with that and the fact that his arm had no muscle, and thus, couldn't bend at the elbow.

But that was impossible; Link had just bent his arm when he was crawling through the tunnel! Even now, after he had let go of the sword, the Hero of Time could easily move his Stalfos hand about with no troubles. Confused, he put the sword back in his left hand, only for its weight to pull his arm towards the ground again. Try as he might, he knew he couldn't wield the sword with his left hand.

Link shrugged it off, picking the blade back up with his right hand. Fortunately, it didn't fall straight through his right, although it still felt awkward in the hand opposite the hand he was used to using. Escaping the glen, Link set to work becoming more used to his blade, or at least he would have if Ivan didn't show up.

"Leetle man found sword! Very good!" the fairy congratulated. "Ivan has found shield. Ted the shopkeeper is selling them for 40 Rupees. Leetle man must go buy one."

"But I only have, like, twelve Rupees!" Link said angrily, cutting down a sign without thinking. A Blue Rupee flew out, which Ivan picked up and carried to Link.

"There you go. Leetle man has seventeen now. Come, we must collect more!" Ivan ordered, flying into Link's hat.

**!0*0!**

After another half-hour of cutting grass, throwing rocks, and running around the forest in search of Rupees, Link finally had enough to purchase the wooden shield. He ran into the shop, disregarding the Kokiri girl sitting on the awning.

"Welcome!" Ted greeted, the prospect of gaining Rupees appearing to be very exciting for the short Kokiri.

"Hi, Ted. I need a Deku Shield, please.

"A Deku shield it is, then. That'll be sixty Rupees, please."

"What the f - Ivan told me it was forty!" Link sputtered, Ivan popping out from under Link's hat to figure out what all the commotion was about.

"Yeah, but you've got higher demand. Higher demand means a higher price," Ted replied snarkily, shrugging. "Go get some more Rupees and come back."

Link set out to comb the forest once again for more Rupees, and eventually returned with eighty just in case Ted decided to up the price once again.

"Deku shield, huh? One hundred Rupees for one, please," Ted declared.

Link blinked. "One… hundred…" His pathetically small wallet could only hold up to ninety-nine Rupees. Until he killed ten Golden Skulltulas and talked to one of the cursed people in the House of the Skulltula in Kakariko Village, ninety-nine Rupees would be the maximum he could carry.

"Stoopid leetle baby man told Ivan it was forty Rupees!" Ivan glowered.

"Prices change. Blame the fact that Rupees grow in bushes, on trees, and under rocks!" Ted spat, obviously terse.

Link needed that shield if he wanted to get past Mido, and only Ted had access to the extremely durable wood used to make Deku Shields. Any other type of wood would fall apart after a few bites from a Deku Baba. And if Ted kept trying to squeeze Rupees out of Link… well… it was obviously making Ivan red with rage - quite literally, since he was glowing crimson instead of his normal deep blue.

Without warning, the fairy darted forward, colliding with Ted's head before assimilating into it. Ted went slack-jawed, eyes glowing dark blue as he mindlessly turned around, plucked the shield from the display rack it was proudly sitting on, before turning to Link and handing it into his unexpected hands. He slung the shield over his blade's scabbard, where it nestled into its proper place.

"Ivan decrees that this Deku Shield is worth forty Rupees," Ted stated in monotone, except in Ivan's voice. "You will pay forty Rupees so that you are not stealing this Shield."

Silently, Link passed forty Rupees over to Ted. As soon as he had done this, Ivan's deep blue form exited Ted's body, who shook his head violently before returning to normal.

"Hey! What just happened? Why do you have a Deku Shield? And more importantly, why did you only pay me… forty Rupees for said Deku Shield? Robber! Blatant shoplifter! THIEF!" Ted screeched.

Link wasn't listening. He turned around and marched out of the store, breathing the fresh air of the Forest. It was midday, and there was an uncharacteristic lack of clouds over the Kokiri Village, revealing the sky to be a beautiful blue.

"So… Ivan… what was that?" Link inquired, genuinely intrigued. "How did you mind-control Ted like that?"

"Ivan… would rather talk about it in private, if you don't mind," the fairy said, sounding almost embarrassed. Nodding, Link turned back towards his small house, saying a quick hello to Saria before climbing up the ladder onto his patio and trotting inside.

"Ivan is different from other fairies," the fairy began instantly. "Ivan… lacks the ability to L-target."

"Don't you mean Z-target?" Link asked. He remembered Navi mentioning Z-targeting, but L-targeting was a completely foreign term.

Ivan gave him a dull look. "Z-target and L-target mean the same thing, silly leetle man. Anyway, it is a great shame, a fairy who cannot L-target. Ivan did not have friends among fairies, and by extension, always held fear of the Kokiri. Ivan worried that they would be just as bad as the fairies. So when Great Deku Tree asked Ivan to be partner of Link, Ivan was scared. Terrified, even."

Link nodded mutely, mind struggling to process Ivan's tale. At least he had _some_ friends among the Kokiri, namely Saria, and once he left the forest, there were people like Zelda with whom he got along great. Complete isolation would have crushed him long ago. "But what does that have to do with the whole mind-control thing?"

"It has everything to do with it!" Ivan continued. "Ivan could not L-target, so Ivan needed an alternative. The alternative Ivan came up with was what you just saw. Ivan calls it 'Mind Hacking'. But it is not infallible. Ivan cannot control enemies like you saw with Ted; Ivan can only momentarily stun those with the desire to harm. And more powerful enemies can create mental wards that nullify Ivan's Mind Hacking entirely. And it takes time for Mind Hacking to… recharge. And Ivan still cannot aid Link in his accuracy. And Ivan is not qualified to handle Kokiri. And-"

"Ivan, I'm going to cut you off right there," Link said suddenly. "Enough self-pity. This 'Mind Hacking' thing you have going for you is really cool, and a departure from the abilities of other fairies. If anything, it makes you _better_ than all those other fairies, because you can do something they never could.

"Besides, you've handled me pretty well so far. I… yeah," Link finished. He had to admit, while Ivan's inability to say the word 'I' was getting on his nerves, he wasn't any worse than Navi was. Ivan was more laid-back and let Link do his own thing, while trying his hardest to be helpful in a more direct way. Navi was more used to dealing with Kokiri, and Link loved her to death, but she _could_ be a bit overbearing at times. But she always had Link's best interests at heart. He could tell that Ivan did, too, but the male fairy simply had a different way of showing it.

"Do you really mean it?" Ivan asked. "All of those things apply to Ivan?"

"Yeah," Link smiled. "Yeah, they do. Now come on, we have to go see the Great Deku Tree."

Was he being a hypocrite, telling Ivan to stop pitying himself when Link _couldn't _stop pitying himself? Well, maybe. Best to not think about it.

With that out of the way, the Hylian-fairy duo stepped out of the tree house and jogged towards the Great Deku Tree.

**!0*0!**

"Oh, you have a Deku shield," Mido noted, squinting at the wooden shield strapped to Link's back. "And what's THAT? Is that the Kokiri Sword? Good grief!"

"So… can I go see the Great Deku Tree now?" Link asked as politely as he could manage with the powerful urge to cut the Kokiri boss into bloody red ribbons.

"No way," Mido spat. "Just because you _have_ a sword and shield doesn't mean you know how to _use_ it. You've never held it a day in your life, after all! For your own safety, I won't let you by until you beat me in a duel!" Mido said, pulling out his own Deku Shield and Deku Stick - only for the Stick to be slapped out of his hands by Link's sword. Before he could react, Link had sidestepped around the Kokiri Boss and forced him into a headlock, the razor-sharp edge of the Kokiri Sword inches away from his neck.

"And I beat you in a duel," Link said softly. "Run along now."

When Mido didn't budge, Link released the bully from the headlock and shoved him away from the Great Deku Tree's grove. Mido stumbled, losing his balance and falling into the shallow water just in front of the valley that led to the glade. Without further ado, Link turned and swiftly stalked towards the Great Deku Tree.

"Ivan thinks leetle man overdid it," Ivan noted. "And when did you learn how to fight like that? The Great Deku Tree told Ivan that you have never held a blade before."

"Trust me, Ivan, I didn't overdo it. I just gave him a taste of his own medicine," Link stated, reminiscing about the time when the Do's had shoved him into that very same river, laughing hysterically at the abundance of mud that refused to get out of his clothes and hair. "And the Great Deku Tree was simply… misinformed. Let's go with that."

While the future Hero of Time was talking, a Deku Baba erupted from the ground just in front of him, and Link blindly walked straight into it. Link remembered the Deku Babas being just sticks with a carnivorous head on them, so the realization that they had _lots_ of sharp prickers on them caught him by surprise.

"Ow!" Link shouted, taking a minute to gingerly pluck each thorn out of his wounded torso. "That hurt way worse than I remember it hurting!"

"Maybe if you were paying attention to your surroundings, you would have seen it," Ivan drawled.

Link glared at his fairy companion, prompting Ivan to stop talking. He spent another two minutes chopping the Deku Babas to bits until he had more Deku Sticks than he could carry.

Link turned left, and despite seeing the Great Deku Tree just the day before, he was still awestruck by its sheer size. The Tree towered over the surrounding forest, and the large moustached face etched into the wood certainly wasn't helping Link's sense of vertigo.

"Ivan is back, Great Deku Tree," Ivan said to the Tree.

"Oh… Ivan, correct?... Thou hast returned," the Deku Tree replied tiredly. "Young Link… welcome. Listen carefully to what I am about to tell thee. Thy slumber these past moons must have been restless and filled with many nightmares…"

Link remembered the dreams of Ganondorf perfectly well, given that he had had one just that day. He shuddered.

"As the servants of evil gain strength, a vile climate pervades this land and causes nightmares to those sensitive to it," the Tree continued. "Verily, thou hast felt it. Link, the time has come to test thy courage. I have been cursed, and I need thee to break that curse with thy wisdom and courage…"

Courage he had for sure. Wisdom… well, he had already done the dungeon before.

"Dost thou have Courage enough to undertake this task?"

Link didn't hesitate before answering. "Yes."

"Then enter, brave Link, and thou too, Ivan," the Great Tree's voice emanated, accompanied with the groaning noise of it opening its cavernous maw. "Ivan the fairy… thou must aid Link. And Link… when Ivan speaks, listen well to his words of wisdom…"

Sensing that the forest's guardian spirit was finished speaking. Link mustered his bravery before approaching and entering the Great Deku Tree.

It was dark inside of the old oak. The floor was matted with decaying plant life, and there was a Skulltula patrolling a section of vine that led up to the upper levels. There was also a hole in the ground covered in cobwebs, and an oddly placed unlit torch.

"I don't remember there being a torch there," Link murmured. Shrugging, he turned to the right and climbed a ladder up to the second level. He jumped onto an exposed branch, but before he was able to jump back off, he was suddenly subjected to the agonizing shriek of a Keese that had caught him unawares. Disgruntled, the former Hero of Time whacked it once with his sword, which was enough to kill the batlike monster.

"Disgusting creature," Link muttered, wiping the blood off of his blade.

The Hylian rushed along the wooden platform and was startled by the Gohma Larva that suddenly hatched from an egg Link was absolutely certain that that wasn't there the last time he was inside the Great Deku Tree. The cyclops tensed its legs as its eyes turned red, preparing to strike. Link was only barely able to jump out of the way as the Gohma threw itself off of the ledge and down to the Great Deku Tree's first floor.

Disregarding it entirely, Link turned to the large chest directly behind him. He leveraged the chest open, expecting to find a map of the dungeon.

He found exactly that- a map of the dungeon.

Having collected the map, Link continued along the parapet, stopping when he heard the unmistakable sound of a Golden Skulltula underneath a crate. The Hylian was easily able to break open the crate and awkwardly stab the giant spider. However, his swing threw his center of mass off, sending the Hero stumbling into the Skulltula's awaiting jaws. It bit down on the Hero's leg. Hard.

Yelling in pain, Link jumped back, taking a moment to address the wound in his limb. It hurt like hell; he expected this kind of pain from a Stalfos' sword, not a Gold Skulltula bite. Now truly enraged, Link brought the Kokiri Sword down onto the Skulltula's brain, killing it after some agonized writhing, before fishing out the token that proved its demise. Seeing that his business was done, Link kept walking until he approached the door that led to the Fairy Slingshot, idly noting another oddly placed unlit torch.

Before he could process what had happened, Link found himself stuck to a massive spider web that coated the entire entrance to the room. Lovely.

"Maybe there is a way to light this torch," Ivan suggested. "Perhaps then, you can burn down this spiderweb."

"Probably," Link agreed, turning around and approaching a patch of rough vines that extended all the way up into the tree's canopy.

"Leetle man can probably climb this," Ivan noted, failing to notice that Link had already started clambering up the wall. "Wait for Ivan!"

"You're a _fairy_, Ivan! You can fly!" Link yelled back.

"Ivan knows that, but there's this thing called _courtesy!_"

**!0*0!**

After circling the entire canopy of the Great Deku Tree and fighting more Deku Babas than he could count, Link finally found a large yellow button attached to the floor. When activated, Link turned to see a torch light up, burning a section of cobweb and the Keese corpse that had once resided on the aforementioned torch.

Farore, he hated Keese.

Deciding that going through this door first was the best maneuver, Link ran over to the door and opened it, only to be immediately assaulted by two Gohma Larva.

_These Gohma are everywhere!_ Link thought as he hacked away at the larvae. _It was definitely _not _this infested the first time I went through the dungeon._

Link looked up at the ceiling and noticed about ten more Gohma eggs. Without the Slingshot, he would have to fight his way through all of them with nothing but his sword, which was a suboptimal strategy. Link turned around to go back, only to find that the door was sealed tight with iron bars.

Perhaps he had to light the torch in the middle of the room. Yes, that was probably the way to unseal the door. Pulling out a Deku Stick, Link attempted to light the tip on fire for easy transportation to the torch, only to be mortified at the fact that he kept missing because he was used to holding it in the other direction. Once he finally managed to get the stick lighted, the Hylian sprinted towards the torch, temporarily ignoring the two Gohma that hatched, and successfully lit it before the Deku Stick burnt out.

A loud thumping noise caught Link's attention, and he turned to see that a small chest had appeared. Grumbling, Link climbed back up onto the ledge and stepped on the very obvious button attached to the floor. Three sections of the floor raised up, showing a way to the small chest. The Kokiri boredly leapt to each one, doing a flip at each jump just because he could.

He got to the chest, once again disregarding the Gohma babies, and kicked it open to reveal a blue rupee. All that for a blue rupee? Really?

"Leetle man is getting angry, is he not?" Ivan asked suddenly, startling Link.

"You can read me like a book," Link drawled.

"Ivan just knows you well," the fairy said dismissively.

"Ivan also met Link just today," Link replied, mimicking Ivan's method of speaking.

"Semantics," the fairy said flippantly.

Link rolled his eyes good-naturedly before jumping off of the ledge, thinking that ending a few Gohma on his blade would settle his nerves. Now _there_ was a funny thought. Link remembered, once upon a time, when Navi had to comfort him whenever he had to slay a Deku Baba, every time a Skullwalltula met its end to one of his Deku nuts, and when tears had last dribbled down his cheeks.

How naive he was.

Shaking off the memories, Link realized that the once-living Gohma larva were all lifeless corpses now. Subconsciously, he noted that there were only two more Gohma eggs left in the room, situated on another ledge. Knowing what he had to do, Link jogged over to the first ledge, stepped on the button, then jumped back over to the other ledge. The Gohma in front of him hatched first, and Link whacked it away with his sword. The larva, fearing for its life, panicked and ran in the opposite direction. Link gave chase, not noticing that the other Gohma had hatched and was preparing to attack.

"Link, behind you!" Ivan warned, succeeding in getting the Hylian's attention. Link was able to sidestep the blow and then leapt at the larva, narrowly avoiding the other larva's attack, and bring his blade down on the second larva's head with all his strength. It died instantly. The last larva wasn't an issue; just another whack with the sword ended its short life.

The door finally opened on the other side of the room, and Link would have high-tailed it over there had he not noticed a large chest appearing right next to him. Praying it was the slingshot, the boy pushed it open and withdrew… exactly what he needed. A slingshot and a bullet bag filled with thirty small Deku Nuts intended for usage as ammunition. Perfect.

Finally exiting the room, Link contemplated jumping down onto the large web in the center before remembering that all the torches were lit and there was still another room to go to on the second level. Having made his decision, Link rappelled down the vine-covered section of wall, thankfully not infested with Gohma, and pulled out a Deku Stick before lighting it and rushing over to the large cobweb, burning it. Putting the Deku Stick away so that it wouldn't turn into a pile of soot, Link entered the room and almost got his head bitten off by a giant Deku Baba which towered several meters over him. The Hylian barely managed to avoid its lunging bite by backpedaling out of its range before whipping out his slingshot and peppering the Baba with shots until it collapsed, dead. He expected the door in front of him to open, but it remained locked. He was confused for an instant until he noticed the blatantly obvious eye switch over the door. Closing one eye and sticking out his tongue a little, Link shot the eye switch, opening the door.

Link progressed further into the Great Deku Tree, halting for a second to take a swig of water from the canteen Ivan had supplied. Groaning when he noticed even more Gohma Larva, he carefully aimed the slingshot and destroyed the eggs before they could hatch. He knew the platform directly in front of him would fall the instant he set foot on it, so he pragmatically dropped off the ledge and climbed up the conveniently placed vines to get on top of the plateau. He could have continued climbing up the vines to his right, but they were blocked by a large set of boulders Link knew he couldn't destroy without bombs. So he disregarded it, instead opting to grab the Compass from the chest and return to the main area.

"Ivan thinks we have to go deeper," Ivan supplied. "We have checked all the rooms above."

"Yeah, we need to go deeper," Link agreed before climbing back up the vines.

"What are you doing? The way further is back that way!" Ivan hollered before following his partner.

"Trust me, Ivan!" Link yelled back, having ascended to the top level of the Great Deku Tree. He backed up, ignoring the Deku Baba perched on the top of the branch, before sprinting forwards and leaping off of the parapet.

The air whipped through his golden locks as he plummeted towards the web in the center of the room, screaming despite himself all the way. The cobweb stopped his fall, but distended downwards with a loud groan before snapping with a resounding _crack_, allowing Link to fall further into the root system of the Great Deku Tree.

**!0*0!**

Fortunately, there was water at the bottom.

Ivan appeared as soon as Link dragged himself out of the water onto the nearest raised platform, clothes sopping wet. The Hylian shivered.

"What possessed you to _do_ that?" the sprite demanded, angrily flitting around his head.

"I felt like it," Link summed up before violently sneezing. He looked up and instantly noticed an unmissable eye-shaped switch just over a barred door. He also noted a gold-plated floor switch, but it was tucked behind a spider web that he couldn't burn because the nearby torch wasn't lit. Glancing towards the elevated platform he knew he couldn't reach, Link jumped as a giant Deku Baba lunged towards him. Fortunately, it was stuck in the ground on that bit of raised earth, and Link was out of range. Deeming it the better option, Link leapt over to the other elevated platform and clambered onto it, slaying the two Deku Babas guarding another floor switch. Stepping on it lit the torch, allowing Link to jump back over and burn the spiderwebs. As he stepped on the gold switch, he noticed a small chest land with a _whump_ over on the other raised platform. Internally, Link grumbled at having to slog through knee-high water yet again.

"Don't worry, leetle man. Ivan is on the job," Ivan declared before fluttering over to the chest, leveraging it open a few inches, then flying inside. A few seconds later, Ivan burst out of the chest, weighed down by a blue rupee.

"This leetle thing weighs _nothing_," Ivan stated reassuringly, wings beating furiously to stay aloft.

"Sure it doesn't, Ivan," Link replied, taking the sprite's burden and slipping it into his wallet. Shooting the eye switch led to the door opening, and Link casually walked through. The door locked itself behind him, and immediately Link was beset by a Mad Scrub that had made its home in the center of the room. It was flanked by two Gohma Eggs, so it would hardly be a big deal.

Link immediately put up his shield, deflecting the Scrub's bullet seed back at it. The Scrub screeched in pain and fled its tiny plant, instinctually scampering away to relative safety. Link didn't want to pursue, because closing in would awaken the Gohma larvae, so he opted to shoot it with his slingshot instead. It died unceremoniously, and Link was about to reach for another bullet when he realized he didn't have any left. Funny. Grumbling, Link stuck the slingshot in his pocket and whipped out his sword, swiftly closing the distance between himself and the Gohma Egg. He managed to cut one of them to ribbons before they hatched, but he was legitimately caught off guard by the two Gohma that dropped on his head, nearly ramming their head-spikes into the back of his neck. Fortunately, Ivan was able to Mind Hack them into a near-comatose state, and it was easy enough for Link to stick his blade down their gullets. The last Gohma was no big deal, just as its brethren were.

As soon as all the enemies were dead, the door he had just exited from screeched open. Link was momentarily confused before noticing the two torches situated in front of the locked door. There was no lit torch in the room for Link to carry with a Deku Stick… whatever was he to do?

"Leetle man needs to light these torches in order for the door to open," Ivan informed.

"I _know_, Ivan," Link growled back.

"Back in that waterlogged cave, there was a lit torch," the fairy suggested.

This made Link think. Was it possible that he could transfer the fire from one room to another? He'd never done it before, but then again… things were vastly different in this mirrored world. Pausing to adjust his boots, Link stepped back into the first room, lit a Deku Stick with a torch, and then sprinted back to the other room and lit the two torches inside, opening the door.

"Remember this, leetle man," Ivan said. "Ivan has great ideas sometimes."

Link sighed, disregarding Ivan's comment. He walked through the door to be greeted by a rotating spiked log suspended over a pool of water. A large hunk of what appeared to be algae drifted back and forth across the depths. Link knew from experience that it was strong enough to support his weight. Turning to his left, he kicked open a small chest and pulled out a few extra bullet seeds. Exactly what he needed, and he was able to more or less fill up his bullet bag with extra bullets from a nearby shrub. The water was crystal clear, and Link's clothes had dried enough that he could brave submerging himself again. Link took a deep breath…

"Leetle man…" Ivan warned.

And dived into the frigid water, desperately searching for a button at the bottom only to be shocked to find that there wasn't one. Frantically, the young Hero scrambled back towards the platform, shivering uncontrollably as his body was exposed to the stale air.

"Stoopid leetle man," Ivan said in monotone. "Obviously, you have to step on this blue button."

Link blinked, only just then noticing the obvious trigger. Perhaps this would lower the water level? He stepped on it, but it didn't do what he expected; instead of decreasing the amount of water in the pit, it only lit a torch a few meters away from him. As soon as he stepped off of the button, the torch went out. Suddenly, and with some level of embarrassment, Link understood exactly what he had to do. So he waited until the algae raft was almost to his side, then stepped on the button before quickly stepping off of it again, pulling a Deku Stick from his pack and touching it to the dying embers. They were hot enough to light the Deku Stick, and Link jumped back onto the raft before ducking underneath the spiked log. Temporarily ignoring the Gohma that hatched from the ceiling, Link jumped onto the platform and lit both conspicuously placed torches, successfully opening the door. After knocking the Gohma off of the platform into the water and filling up his bullet bag with more Deku Nuts, Ivan directed Link's attention to a Block of Time placed by the way into the next room. Hovering over it was a giant Skulltula, motionless.

_What the hell is a Block of Time doing here?_ Link thought, aghast. _My Compass says there's something beneath it, but I don't even have an ocarina yet!_

It wasn't a big deal, he told himself. He could always come back later. Sighing in defeat, Link maneuvered himself so that his body was pressed up against the wall, because he had no other way to get rid of the Skulltula blocking his path. It took only two shots for the big spider to collapse to the ground, dead, before it shriveled up into a pile of unnatural blue flame. Link emotionlessly pulled himself onto the Block of Time and walked through the door, absolutely drained and still shivering.

The small room had another Mad Scrub, a Keese, and even _more_ Gohma eggs. So many Gohma eggs were attached to the floor and ceiling. Luckily, the last room of this style was almost identical, so Link was able to kill everything in the room without much difficulty. The locked doors unlocked themselves and opened, allowing Link to proceed to the next room

The room was large and filled with… graves. At least twelve graves were haphazardly strewn across the room, alongside four torches, a Deku Baba, and a Keese perched on each torch. Killing the Deku Baba for its Stick, Link slowly tiptoed towards the blue button in between all of the Keese, keen on not making a sound. The button, Link reasoned, would probably light the torches, which would incinerate the Keese. Perfect.

The Hero of Time stepped on the button, and the torches lit, but the bats were not cooked. Rather, they were promptly engulfed in flames, becoming more dangerous Fire Keese.

"Ivan thinks that backfired," Ivan supplied.

"Shut up, Ivan," Link shot back.

Uttering a war cry, Link charged at one of the perched Keese, killing it instantly. He was unable to react to the other three, however, and one of them managed to slip past his guard and bite him, lighting the boy on fire. While it was better than being waterlogged, Link didn't appreciate the change in temperature, and beat at the flames until they were subdued. He reached out with his left arm to bash the creature to death with his shield, only to realize that his shield wasn't there anymore; evidently, it had burned to a crisp when the Keese touched him. Enraged more than hurt, Link cut the bat cleanly in half with the Kokiri Sword, then jumped back, narrowly avoiding the other two Keese.

Without a shield on his arm, his entire body felt off-balance and he hated it. Like it or not, Link simply wasn't used to fighting without a shield, and his sloppier attacks showed it.

_What I wouldn't give for a shield right now,_ Link thought to himself in anguish.

Almost in response to his wish, Link felt something odd in his left arm, like there was some energy that wanted out. Distancing himself from the Keese, he stared in wonder at his Stalfos hand, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

Ivan looked stupefied. "Why did you not tell Ivan about this?" he shouted.

"I thought you knew!" Link accused. "I mean, it's kind of hard to miss."

"How was Ivan supposed to know that leetle man was part _Stalfos_?" Ivan shot back. "No matter. If you can channel the dark energies that Stalfos use in their swords and shields, we can turn this calamity into a very strong advantage, indeed."

"Stalfos use magic?" Link asked, suddenly interested.

"Da. Stalfos use a tiny bit of dark magic to summon their weapons. That's why they all look the same. Have you ever seen a Stalfos? Ivan doubts it."

"Once or twice," Link replied flippantly.

"When did you- You know what? Now is not the time to be having this conversation," Ivan replied, gesticulating towards the two Keese who were currently swooping towards him. "Now we must fight."

"Gotcha," Link replied, sheathing his sword and shooting the two flaming bats down with his slingshot. Reapproaching the torches, Link activated the torches before lighting another Deku Stick and burning down the two large spider webs that blocked the two exits to the room. Knowing that he probably couldn't do anything beyond the door, Link opted to crawl through the small tunnel that led back to the waterlogged cavern. When he exited the tunnel, it was easy enough to kill the two giant Deku Babas that had grown by the entrance to the lowest echelons of the Great Deku Tree. He took the time to shove a large block - engraved, he realized, with the Gerudo insignia - down into the water below, allowing access from the lower platforms. Leaping off of the plateau, Link was able to light a Deku Stick on the still-lit torch before rushing back onto the plateau, touching his stick to the cobwebs covering the way downwards. The web burnt away, and to placate Ivan, Link took his time to carefully climb down the mottled vines that led to the deepest part of the Tree. Swimming out of the water that resided at the bottom of the hole, Link noticed three Deku Scrubs guarding the locked door.

"Damn, I'd kill for a shield," Link thought, knowing that a shield would be invaluable for getting the Deku Scrubs to open the door. Once again, he got that tingly feeling in his arm.

"Language, leetle man! Now hold still. Ivan wants to try something," Ivan supplied, turning red.

The past/future Hero of Time stared blankly at Ivan, failing to comprehend what was going on until he suddenly did.

Ivan changed color like that whenever he was about to Mind Hack someone. And the only one in the room besides the Deku Scrubs was…

"Ivan, don't you d-" Link started before he was cut off by Ivan's small body colliding with Link's forehead as his mind went blank, eyes glowing blue. Essentially, his consciousness had been separated from his brain, preventing Link from controlling his own self. His fairy was in command now, even though Link could still see and feel everything going on around him. He felt what little magical energy he had concentrating itself by his left forearm-

And he was shocked to see that a magnificent weightless shield had formed itself on his forearm. It was seemingly made of metal, with a ring of orange metal on the outside and a brilliant cobalt on the inside. He could tell that it was slowly draining his magical energy, but the energy drain was so sluggish that it was practically negligible.

Suddenly his mind was his own again, and Ivan resurfaced, the sprite looking giddy.

"Ivan told you. If leetle man learns control over his powers, things will be much easier!" the sprite exclaimed. "Now that you've done it once, your body should be able to dispel and summon that shield without much effort."

"Okay… Dispel!" Link ordered.

The shield, needless to say, did not dissipate.

_Dispel_, Link demanded internally.

The shield failed to disappear.

"It's not working," Link told Ivan sheepishly. "I guess I'll just have to go without it once my magic drains."

As soon as he said that, the shield poofed out of existence in a cloud of mist. He guessed it was less about telling the shield to disappear than it was telling the shield that it was no longer needed. A twinge of pain passed through Link's being for an instant before going away. Resummoning it was easy enough, because Ivan had already done the first conjuration for him and he instinctively knew what to do. He summoned and dispelled it a few times, just to get the hang of it, and to get used to the flicker of pain that accompanied dispelling the shield.

Link grinned maniacally. "This is awesome!"

Ivan smiled, a bit off-put by the possibility that his partner was completely insane. "Ivan is happy to help. Now, let's save the Deku Tree!"

"Of course," Link replied, summoning his shield. He trotted up to the three Deku Scrubs, which poked out of their little leaf huts and fired giant seeds at the youth. Knowing that their order was 2-3-1 and that the world was mirrored, Link angled his shield such that the seeds would ricochet first at the second, then the leftmost, then the rightmost, noting that taking the hits made his magic decrease just a little faster for a split second. He then closed in on the first Deku Scrub, knowing it would pop out of the ground.

So Link was stupefied when all three Scrubs burrowed back into their flowers and started firing again. He must have gotten the order wrong. Perhaps it, like the geography, was mirrored as well. So, 1-3-2? It was worth a shot. Shrugging internally, the Hylian directed the seeds back at their owners once again, only for them to burrow away again. Frustrated, tired, and surprisingly low on mana, Link just started sequentially trying every single order because he hadn't the faintest clue on what to do. He hated how every time he deflected anything with the shield, his magical energy took a huge hit. And he didn't have any bottles to store Green Potions in!

The correct order was 3-1-2, the exact next order he tried.

"How did you know our secret?! How irritating!" the Scrub shrieked.

"I guessed," Link replied honestly.

"Ugh, it's so annoying that I'm going to reveal the secret of Queen Gohma to you!"

"I mean… you don't _ha_-" Link began.

"In order to administer the coup de grace to Queen Gohma, strike with your sword while she's stunned," the Scrub interrupted. "Oh, Queenie… Sorry about that!"

It scampered back into its flower, and the door behind it creaked open.

"You didn't have to…" Link continued. "Oh well."

He didn't notice how dispelling his shield didn't hurt.

**!0*0!**

Link walked through the door into a dark, wet, and disgusting-smelling stone room. Pressing forwards, the boy narrowly avoided a sudden rockslide, sealing the way back.

Something started rustling on the ceiling above, as if crawling towards him at a rapid pace. He didn't need to look up to know that it was the massive parasitic armored arachnid, Gohma. The great beast dropped from the stone ceiling to the cold earth, directly in front of him, before rearing up on its hind limb, screeching its malice to the room.

Instincts took over as Link backpedaled, eager to put some distance between himself and the parasite. The five-legged spider arched its back before digging its front claws into the ground where Link had stood just a few instants ago, its singular eye glowing a bloodred. Link knew what he had to do, so he pulled his slingshot out of his pouch and aimed for its eye. He missed, so he tried again, this time succeeding in hitting the beast in its weak point.

_I'm too used to L-targeting,_ Link thought glumly, yanking his sword out of his scabbard and repeatedly hacking at the arachnid's eye with the blade. However, it soon recovered from its stunned state, invisible armor sliding over its eye and leaving the whites of its eyes a golden hue. It clambered up one of the rock pillars in the room towards the ceiling as Link nearly choked on the malodorous fumes spewing forth from the gargantuan spider.

Recovering from his stupor, Link backpedaled, keeping an eye on the Gohma's weak spot as it shuffled about the roof. Soon enough, the eye's armor retracted as a lump began to form in its tail, which Link had confused for a hind limb. The Hylian boy knew it was a Gohma egg, ready to hatch, so he simply shot the beast down from the roof. It crashed down with a great, echoing boom, and Link returned to using its eye as a canvas, his sword as a brush and Gohma blood as paint. It only took a few more hits for the Gohma to start staggering around in its death throes before collapsing, twitching occasionally as it dissipated into an ocean of blue fire, which, having nothing to ignite, soon disappeared as well.

He stood silently for a second, watching the fire burn out.

"The Gohma wasn't evil," Link said suddenly. "It just wanted a place to live and to reproduce. It just happened to be sent to the Great Deku Tree."

He felt remorse, which he had no recollection of ever feeling towards the arachnid. He felt a certain anguish. The Gohma was not evil, no more than he was evil. He knew that the Gohma had been sent by Ganondorf specifically to kill the Great Deku Tree, but… did that make it inherently bad?

"Of course it wasn't," Ivan consoled, sensing Link's regret. "All living things are too complicated to be classified as good or evil. Either a being does a good thing, because it helps someone, or an evil thing, because it harms someone. The only beings this doesn't apply to are demons like Demise."

Let's just drop the subject," Link concluded, walking towards the glowing blue pillar that would transport him back to the Kokiri Forest. _Demise…_ he thought, his mind drifting to Ganondorf as shudders coursed down his spine.

The pillar seized the child, pulling him back to the dying warmth of the Forest. It set him down just in front of the Great Deku Tree, whose mouth was still open wide.

"Well done, Link… Thou hast very well demonstrated thy courage…" the Tree's voice emanated. "I knew that thou wouldst be able to carry out my wishes… Now, I have yet more to tell thee, wouldst thou listen…"

"I mean… okay-" Link said.

"Now, listen carefully… A wicked man of the desert cast this dreadful curse on me…" the Deku Tree continued. "This evil man ceaselessly used his vile, sorcerous powers in his search for the Sacred Realm that is connected to Hyrule. For it is in that Sacred Realm that one will find the divine relic, the Triforce, which contains the essence of the gods…"

Link tuned out the Deku Tree's recounting of the old legend. He knew what it was already, anyway: Din, Nayru, and Farore made Hyrule and everything on it, then left, leaving the Triforce. Boom. Done.

"Since then, the sacred triangles have become the basis of our world's providence. And the resting place of the triangles has become the Sacred Realm," the Great Deku Tree droned. "Thou must never allow that desert man in black armor to lay his hands on the sacred Triforce… thou must never suffer that man, with his evil heart, to enter the Sacred Realm of legend. Because of that evil man, my end is nigh. Though your valiant efforts to break the curse were successful, I was doomed before you started…"

Even though he expected this turn of events to take place, the revelation still sent stabbing waves of guilt through Link's being. His breath caught in his throat and his eyes filled with unshed tears. Ivan was not taking the news anywhere near as well, and the little fairy started openly sobbing, burying his face into his hands and weeping loudly.

"Yes, I will pass away soon, but do not grieve for me…" the Tree continued. "I have been able to tell you of these important matters. This is Hyrule's final hope. Link, go now to Hyrule Castle. There, thou wilt surely find the Princess of Destiny…"

Zelda, who would surely remember everything. She must, right?

Right?

"Take this stone with thee. The stone that man wanted so much, that he cast the curse on me…"

Suddenly, a bright green light appeared just before Link, nearly blinding the child. He threw a Stalfosified hand in front of his face to shield himself from the light until it disappeared, leaving behind the sparkling Kokiri Emerald, which slowly floated down towards Link. He moved to take it, sealing it safely in his Pouch of Holding.

"The future depends on thee, Link… Thou art courageous…"

If only the Great Deku Tree knew he would become the Bearer of the Triforce of Courage. Maybe he did.

"Ivan the fairy… Help Link to carry out my will," the Tree continued, his voice labored. "I entreat ye… Ivan… fare… well…"

With his proverbial last breath, the massive tree lost its color, turning a stony grey. Its leaves swiftly decayed, becoming a conglomeration of sickly browns, oranges, and yellows with a great groaning noise. Then, at last, the Great Deku Tree was still.

"Proshchay, Great Deku Tree," Ivan said solemnly.

Link couldn't take the pain of the Tree's loss anymore. He turned and fled the now-decaying grove, struggling to not let any tears fall. The Tree's last order to him was to not grieve. He had failed it last time, and he sure as hell wasn't going to fail him again.

Ivan soon caught up to him, not saying anything. He probably knew that Link was undergoing serious grief, although he couldn't possibly know just how much, and didn't want to disturb him just yet.

Mido, who was inexplicably still guarding the entryway to the Deku Tree's grove, however, would.

"Hey, Link! What did you DO?" Mido yelled accusingly. "The Great Deku Tree… did he… die?"

"He told me he was doomed before I started," Link said solemnly, not daring to look the bully in the eye. "There was nothing I could have done.

It was the wrong thing to say.

"How could you let something like that _happen!_ It's all your fault!" Mido exploded. "Hey, guys! Link killed the Great Deku Tree!"

This sudden proclamation was heard throughout the entire forest, and nobody missed it. Heads peeked out of doors, none of them happy.

_Oh, boy._

Link suddenly looked up. "The Great Deku Tree is dead," he started, shocking the entire forest into dead silence. "Before he passed, he told me that a black man from the desert had put a death curse on him. I broke the curse, but… only too late."

The Kokiri doubtlessly wouldn't have believed Link had he not broken down into tears at that exact instant and if his clothes weren't completely _drenched_ in violet Gohma blood and stained with tiny flecks of his own.

"I tried my best," the Hero stated through his sobs. "That's all I can say."

With that, Link walked past the staring Kokiri, only stopping at his own habitation to grab some extra Rupees and to change into a fresh, waterproof tunic before walking out onto the bridge connecting Kokiri Forest to Hyrule Field.

"Oh, you're leaving…" a melodious voice rang.

Link turned abruptly, convinced that Saria hadn't been standing where she was when he had walked onto the bridge leading to Hyrule Field.

"But that's OK, because we'll be friends forever... won't we?" she continued.

"Of course we will," Link said. Ivan had darted into Link's hat to give him a bit of privacy for this moment. He was better than Navi in that sense. "Nobody could ever replace you."

"Of course," the Kokiri girl affirmed. "I want you to have this ocarina. Please take good care of it. I wanted to give this to you for the Summer Solstice that's in two weeks, but… well…"

"I understand," Link said amicably, grasping the musical instrument and looking at it with an undeniable look of nostalgia.

"When you play my ocarina…" Saria continued, a sadly happy expression etched into her face. "I hope… you will think of me and come back to the forest to visit."

"Oh, Saria," Link replied, stepping forwards and pulling her into a warm embrace, which she returned eagerly. "You will always be… my friend…"

When he pulled away, the girl looked more ecstatic by a few orders of magnitude. "Now, go. But don't forget who you are, Link."

Link grinned slightly, turned around, and walked forwards, towards his destiny.

**I. Love. IVAN.**

**Ivan has a very specific voice, to the point that you're missing out on the story if you're not aware of it. To get this voice, take Gregor from Fire Emblem and Heavy Weapons Guy from TF2, then stick them together before giving that voice to Ivan. It makes the fic SO much better.**

**Regarding the shield, that came from the BS part of my brain. The BS part of my brain has good ideas but no good explanations for them. It's where Mind Hacking, my love of calculus, and my pen name come from. Basically, I figured "Hey, all the Stalfos look the same despite being different people as confirmed by Fado, so… they can use dark magic to summon swords and shields?"**

**So, that was that. And dear god, that chapter alone was almost 10,000 words, and most of it was just Link reacting to MQ. I feel dirty, but I'm not complaining because I think this chapter was handled pretty well.**

**Oh, and by the way, this fic was tactically written in advance so that I could have a consistent upload schedule (every Friday), so I'm going to have a blast watching all of the reactions to this while grinning sadistically at the fact that I know everything.**

**NOOTTD: 1. Navi spelled backwards is Ivan. Ivan is a Russian name, so I just imagined a Russian Navi and laughed my ass off for about twenty minutes. Thus, Ivan was born.**

**1.5. Mind Hacking came from my original manuscripts for SW:A, in which the main antagonist [Darth Furiz, who was immortalized as my pen name when I decided not to write it] had the ability to hack his opponents' perceptions of reality to manipulate them to his advantage. This ability would have been much more powerful in SW:A than it is in Tears of Memory, but I wanted to keep the idea, so I did. Plus, Mind Hacking is fun to say. Mind Hacking. Mind Hacking. MIND HACKING!**

**2\. Joe and Ted are normal names for normal folks.**

**Like it? Hate it? Want to implant me with a Gohma? Then please consider leaving me a review. It goes a long way and I'd kill for some feedback. I respond to reviews at the Reading Review Rendezvous Point, or the RRRP.**


	3. Chapter 2: Denial

**Here we go again. Hyrule Field is going to be a lot bigger and filled with more stuff, because I feel that that was one of Ocarina of Time's biggest failings. For a sense of scale, it now takes two days to walk across Hyrule Field, as opposed to six hours[ish] of in-game time. Why? Because it's an entire country, and an entire country does not take six hours to walk across!**

**RRRP:**

_ChangelingRin, who I actually didn't ask to review this time: _If you don't know Heavy, just watch the Meet the Heavy video. That's a good baseline. But yeah, Ivan's voice is just this deep baritone that is super juxtaposed with the fact that he's a fairy. And yes, Link _can_ lose he Stalfos Shield, by which I mean he can't use it if he's out of dark magic.

_Rl2: _Thanks! And shields aren't the only thing that can do… just you wait.

**DISCLAIMER: If I owned The Legend Of Zelda, the games would be much darker and edgier, like Majora's Mask if it was on the Nintendo Switch. Because that doesn't exist, I don't own the Legend of Zelda.**

_Chapter II: A Hero's Regrets_

The great owl Kaepora Gaebora has just crossed the horizon as Link trudged along Hyrule Field. The Eye of Din stared down at him, causing sweat to cascade down his body in a futile effort to keep the boy cool. It was two weeks or so until the Summer Solstice, so hot temperatures were to be expected. He was just about to pass through the frontier village of Southington when he suddenly had an epiphany.

_Sheik taught me the Prelude of Light for when I needed to get to the Temple of Time with all haste, _Link thought. _Surely, now qualifies as such a time?_

While still walking, Link pulled out his Fairy Ocarina, prompting Ivan to give him a weird look. He pressed the ocarina to his lips instinctually, recalling the many times he had warped to the ancient temple…

Strange. For the life of him, he couldn't remember a single note in the tune. It was almost like the song had been wiped from his brain entirely. Worried, he racked his mind for the other teleportation songs, only to realize that he knew none of them. He frantically struggled to remember any songs of power at all, but to no avail.

"Leetle man seems stressed. What is it?" Ivan pondered.

"It's nothing," Link assured, sounding very unsure. "Right now, my top priority is to get to the Castle."

"It's a good idea," Ivan affirmed. "And in case you were wondering, the Printsessa's name is Zelda. So you will refer to her as Printsessa Zelda, as this is the proper way to address one of her station. To refer to her with her first name alone would be considered impolite. Understand?"

"How do you know that? You haven't left my side!" Link questioned.

"Ivan has lots of sources," the fairy replied cryptically. "Other fairies know many things, and interfairy communications are very fast."

The boy shook his head dismissively, without a hint of malice, as he finally entered the tiny village. If he recalled correctly, the people who lived here were mostly simple farmers, with a few merchants here and there. There was nothing for him here. Spending time here would be a waste, so the ex-Kokiri continued on, gaining strange looks from the townspeople, who only saw a little boy stalking through their quaint town and out the other way.

"Ivan knows we need to be moving with much haste, but Link needs rest. The next town is just over the horizon. Once we get there, you should check into an inn and sleep for the night before continuing on," Ivan persuaded.

"Bringing the Kokiri Emerald to the Princess is more important than my well-being," Link replied. He refused to say anything more for a few minutes before finally adding "Besides, I'm almost out of Rupees. I only have… what? Fifty? Some of which I need for food and drink."

"If leetle man insists, then we will stop in the next town at an inn just for a meal, then continue. Is that prompt enough for you?"

"That works," Link accepted, if a bit grudgingly.

**!0*0!**

Evening turned to dusk, and Link resisted the powerful urge to lean back against a tree and take a nap for about twelve hours. He had tried that once before, on his very first expedition into Hyrule Field. He had been punished for relaxing when a Stalchild nearly ripped his face off. Navi had never let him live that down.

He had managed to slake his thirst in the last town, only for some adult to notice his Stalfos hand and chase him out of the village with the aid of a terrified mob wielding pitchforks and lit torches. Link had made a mental note to buy a pair of gloves in the next town before anyone else could notice his bony limb.

Speaking of his Stalfos hand, all of the muscle had been separated from the hand, leaving behind a comparatively pristine bone arm. The corruption extended all the way to his forearm, where the bone abruptly transformed into tanned skin at about halfway between his elbow and shoulder. It functioned the same as his hand did in human form, but holding things in it felt… wrong. Link attributed this to the fact that like the rest of existence, his body had been mirrored as well, making him right-handed. This made sense, given that it felt just as right to hold the Kokiri Sword in his right hand as it used to in his left. Not to mention the fact that it could barely lift anything even as light as a Deku Shield.

Din's Eye finally sank below the horizon as Link crested a tall hill. From prior experience, he knew that if it was broad daylight, he would just be able to see Hyrule Castle Town off in the distance. Judging by that, he estimated that he was twelve miles from the gates. Hell, he was making good time; it had taken him more than three days to make it to Hyrule Castle Town on his first run. Maybe he's make it in two.

Suddenly, he heard a groaning noise behind him as well as feel the shifting of dirt below him. He'd been hoping to elude the Stalchildren this time, but apparently, his luck wasn't very good right now. Link increased his pace, thinking that perhaps he could simply outrun the skeletal beings. Unfortunately, the boy only managed to jump out of the frying pan and into the fire, as a pack of Tektites assaulted him the instant he managed to lose the skeletons. Fortunately, the spider-like creatures were easy enough to deal with, and Link even managed to avoid drenching his tunic in the monsters' blood.

At this point, Link was actively fighting the overwhelming desire to keel over and sleep. If only there was some way to prevent himself from slumbering.

"Leetle man needs rest," Ivan deduced. "Feel free to relax, Ivan will keep watch."

"Fine," Link gave in, stumbling drunkenly over to a nearby tree, and sat down heavily against it, eyes going dull as they closed somewhat. "Wake me up in an hou…"

The little boy started snoring, trailing off before he could finish his thought. He slept with his eyes open, so he watched as his partner stared at him for a few minutes, an odd expression of shock and muted horror evident on his features. The fairy approached slowly, waving his ethereal hands in front of Link's face. When he got no reaction, Ivan opted to settle on top of Link's head, keeping watch over the slumbering child.

**!0*0!**

_He was surrounded by an ocean of people. People he recognized from his efforts to save Hyrule from Ganondorf's evil clutches. Zelda stood right at their front, as they all stared at him. Link found it uncomfortable._

_Water pooled at his feet. Since when was there water?_

_The liquid rose and rose, consuming the mass of humanity congregating in front of him. They started screaming, bubbles pouring from their agape mouths, shrill screeches of torment and suffering echoing from underneath the waves as water filled their lungs, asphyxiating them all. They begged for someone, anyone, to free them from their torment._

_Link moved to save them, to do anything, only to find that his feet were glued to the floor.. He could only watch in horror and torment as everyone stopped twitching and died._

_Except Zelda._

_She merely continued to stare at Link, unmoving. Her eyes bored into his accusingly, like all the eyes of the dead. It was almost like she was one with them, and Link realized with a startling amount of clarity that she was the one that had locked him in place, indirectly allowing the water to snuff out so many innocent lives. She had forced him to watch._

Why? _She asked, sounding disgusted. _Why did you abandon them? Link, you're supposed to save people, not doom them.

_I couldn't do anything. You were the one that kept me from them,_ Link tried to argue.

The Goddesses must have made a mistake, _she decided._ You're no Hero. You're pathetic. Useless. Now go, you worthless excuse of a savior. Go and burn in hell with Ganondorf.

_The only thing worse than being hated was being forgotten._

_Darkness consumed his vision, and he remembered no more._

**!0*0!**

The youth awoke in a cold sweat, groggy from his slumber. The moon was setting in the east, the sun tinting the western horizon with indigo and vermillion despite not being above said horizon just yet.

"Ivan! Why did you let me sleep so late?" Link asked angrily.

"What? What's wrong?" Ivan stammered, evidently confused by Link's outburst.

"It's almost daybreak! We could have been halfway to Castle Town by now!"

"The Great Deku Tree informed Ivan that you need nine to eleven hours of sleep per day. Given the circumstances, Ivan thinks we can narrow that down to eight to ten, but no more. That, coupled with your tendency to sleep in -"

Link scoffed.

"- makes Ivan think you need much more sleep than you get. So Ivan let you sleep as long as possible. No harm done, see?"

"Well, Ivan, I can take care of myself perfectly well," Link drawled. "You're almost as bad as Navi…"

"What was that last bit?"

"Nothing, Ivan. Nothing."

Whacking a nearby Gossip Stone with his sword revealed the time to be 5:22 AM. After ripping a tuber out of the ground and cleaning it as best he could before devouring it, Link continued his trek towards Castle Town. Thankfully, only a few wild Keese interrupted his travels before daybreak hit, revealing the sky to be mostly blue with a few scattered clouds. By three o'clock, the future/former Hero was only a kilometer from Lon Lon Ranch, which was only a few kilometers from Castle Town. He stopped for a bit to gnaw at a stale loaf of bread he had purchased for cheap in the last town, although he was still in desperate need of a pair of gloves. Navi would have known what to do.

The child trudged on, now so close to Castle Town that he could just see the terracotta roofs of the buildings beyond the great stone walls. Night would be coming soon.

Mustering the last of his strength, Link threw himself into an all-out sprint, desperate to make it inside the castle before nightfall. The quicker he got to Zelda, the better.

Link dashed onto the bridge just as it started ascending. Suddenly, he got the inexplicable urge to see the world from a higher perspective. He couldn't fathom why. By this time, the bridge was halfway from being completely closed. Making a decision, Link turned around and scrambled back to the top of the rising bridge, making it to the top as it finally ascended to its highest position.

The view Link was rewarded with was stunning.

For miles and miles, the boy could see the glinting light of candles from Lon Lon Ranch and the other towns. It was beautiful. This was what he'd been sent back to save. These were the people he'd give his life to protect.

And let him be damned if he fails in that mission.

Link turned and noticed three Red Rupees stuck haphazardly onto the wall. Figuring nobody would realize their absence, Link reached out and grabbed all three of them before dropping off the bridge and into the castle.

He was astonished by the sheer amount of _noise_ that filled the castle town. The last time he was here at night, the place was abandoned. But now, there were so many Hylians stuffed into the main square, of all shapes and sizes, some of them lugging around massive wooden beams that looked like they weighed as much as Link had when he was the Hero of Time, if not more.

The city was congested with people, and Link desired space to breathe and clear his head. So he attempted to ford through the masses of people until he approached the fountain, where there were considerably less people around. To think that he was more terrified here than fighting Gohma!

The funniest part was that it was true.

He bumped into someone as he backed away from a perfectly white dog that had suddenly taken an interest in him. As he turned to apologize, he instantly recognized the person's creamy white dress, flowing red hair, and odd face-shaped pin by her neck as none other than Malon. Link instantly relaxed, having known the ranch girl in the other timeline as a sweet, independent young woman.

"Hey, your clothes! They're…" the girl said, putting a finger to her lips in order to find the right word. "... unique. You're not from around here, are you?"

"As a matter of fact, I'm not. You see, I-" Link started.

"Oh! You're a fairy boy from the forest! My name is Malon! My dad owns Lon Lon Ranch! What's your name?"

Oh, right. Link had forgotten that she could talk ten kilometers a minute.

"Well, Malon, my name is Link. It's really nice to meet you," the boy replied. "Can I ask why it's so… busy?"

"They're preparing for Summer's Day, Link!" Malon explained enthusiastically. "It's a day where everyone thanks the Goddesses for a good planting season and prays for a good harvest next fall! It's really cool! My daddy went up to the castle to deliver some milk for the festival, but he hasn't returned yet…"

She suddenly adopted an expression bordering sadness, staring off at the massive silhouette of the castle. Hell, her moods swung quickly.

"Well, I was going to the castle anyway to see the Princess. If you want, I can go wake him- I mean, look for him," Link offered.

"Thank you so much!" the ranch girl exclaimed. "If you'll look for him, I'll give this to you. I've been incubating this egg very carefully… Tee hee!"

Then she proceeded to pull a Cucco egg out of hammerspace and hand it to Link, who took it from Malon and gingerly set it in his pouch, hoping beyond hope that it wouldn't crack open.

"No problem!" Link assured, grinning as he turned and walked towards the castle. He passed off the odd warmth he was feeling as exhaustion.

**!0*0!**

Link proceeded to tune out the words spewing forth form Kaepora Gaebora's beak. Something about the passage of time? Whatever it was, it definitely wasn't important.

"Do you want to hear what I said again?" The owl suddenly inquired.

"N-no, thank you. I've got it," Link answered, jolted out of his stupor.

"You're a smart kid. You'll get the hang of it," the great bird hooted before turning and flying off into the distance.

Din's Eye dipped under the horizon as Link punched the tree the owl was formerly perched on and killing the Golden Skulltula that fell from its branches. Once that was done, Link turned and clambered up a vine that led to the top part of the valley. Ivan ducked out of sight, to avoid being a beacon for the guards that would give Link away.

His worn boots made no sound as he crawled towards the stone bridge, trying to stay as low to the earth as possible. Interestingly, the guards seemed far more alert than he remembered them being, slowing Link's progress. Perhaps it was simply the fact that they weren't wearing their signature vision-impairing helmets.

Worse, they weren't just standing still and staring in one direction. Some of them were turning in place and others were straight up marching around the courtyard that led to the castle. The twenty four - seven guard would be an issue, certainly, but it probably wouldn't be anything Link couldn't handle.

He was about to climb down a ladder into the bridge when he suddenly spotted a guard sitting inside of the small cubicle. Deeming it the better option, Link instead leapt off the bridge onto the other side, rolling to avoid making too much noise. However, he instantly had to dart into a dead end, which was heavily shaded, to avoid a patrol of knights. As soon as the platoon had passed, Link dashed towards the castle, sure to avoid drawing the attention of the two guards stationed in the pass as he scaled a steep slope.

He nearly gasped in shock as he noticed that he had almost bowled over a guard standing right at the peak of the hill. Link was only a few feet from him, body thankfully obscured by the darkness, and he knew that moving would give away his position.

Needless to say, he was totally screwed.

Link wasn't sure quite how long he spent lying there, silently. It must have been at least three agonizing hours, and he was starting to gain the sudden drive to fall asleep and start snoring. Nevertheless, Link stayed awake as the moon drifted across the vast expanse of the sky.

As the moon moved, the shadows shifted, slowly making Link more and more exposed. Thankfully, the guard somehow hadn't noticed his presence. Perhaps if he slowly maneuvered towards his left, he'd be able to slip past the guard and forwards towards the Princess.

But just as he was about to execute his plan, a cucco crowed deafeningly loudly. The ear splitting noise caused Link to jump, losing his grip and sliding halfway down the side of the hill. Wasn't the cucco supposed to hatch in the morning? Why had it hatched now, at the stroke of midnight?

Whatever the reason, it had happened, and the guard took notice, finally looking down into Link's azure orbs.

"What the hell? It's some kid! How long have you been there?" the man demanded.

Link didn't dare to answer, mortified.

"Whatever. Come on, kid. Your parents must be worried sick! Get out of here!"

He proceeded to snatch the child up by the scruff of his neck and throw him back in front of the gate. Dejected, Link wandered back to the vine, hid by it for a few minutes, and then climbed back up to try again. Moving faster now, he leapt off of the parapet without making a sound before attempting to scale the hill again. The guard from before was still there, unfortunately.

"Ivan?" Link whispered.

"Da?" Ivan replied almost silently.

"Could you Mind Hack that guard?" Link asked.

"But he's just doing his job!" the fairy argued.

"Well, him doing his job is preventing me from seeing the Princess," Link argued as quietly as he could.

"Fine. Ivan will do this," Ivan responded before turning red and quickly floating towards the guard, who stiffened on contact before becoming slack-jawed. Grateful for Ivan's assistance, Link carefully strode past the guard, and as soon as the boy was back under the cover of darkness, Ivan released the man from his mind control and swiftly darted back under Link's hat.

Now the challenge was getting past this courtyard into the castle. Link silently slinked along the cliffside, desperate to get past the rest of the guards. He climbed up another viny outgrowth before leaping off of the outcrop into the moat with an undignified splash. If it drew the attention of the guards, he couldn't tell, because Link had completely submerged himself in the moat.

The current pushed Link around a bend, and the cold Hero tugged himself out of the water as soon as he could hear Talon's snoring. He was about to pull out the Cucco that Malon had given him before rethinking the situation. The Cucco had gotten him caught last time, so surely he shouldn't use the Cucco to wake up Talon, because that would get him caught again in a heartbeat. Putting away his Pouch of Holding, Link puzzled over how to awaken the slumbering adult.

"Ivan, can you Mind Hack this man so that he wakes up?" Link asked.

"Mind Hacking has a very long cooldown," Ivan insisted. "Try again in two hours or so."

Well. That left only one logical choice.

"Zzzzzzz… Welcome… Our ranch is so fun… C'mon and look around… Zzzzzzzzz…" the ranch owner mumbled deliriously.

Link squatted down until he was level with Talon, before raising his Stalfos hand and whacking the adult on the face. Hard.

"What in tarnation?!" the adult squealed, tossing and turning before standing, shaking his head. "Can't a person get a little shut-eye around here?"

"No, they can't," Link replied wryly, standing up.

"Oh, hello, and who might you be?" Talon asked, as if suddenly aware of Link's presence.

"Doesn't matter," Link stated dismissively, flapping his right hand around. "You wouldn't happen to be Talon, would you?"

"Yup, I'm Talon, the owner of Lon Lon Ranch," Talon affirmed.

"Good, because Malon was looking for you. You've been sleeping here since you came up to deliver the milk for Summer's Day," Link informed.

"_What_?!" the man roared. "Malon was looking for me? I'm going to get it from her now! I messed up bad, leaving Malon behind to wait for me! She's really going to let me have it!"

He instantly got up, sprinting towards Castle Town and flailing his arms like a madman. Link noted to never get on Malon's bad side. Ever.

Finally, Link was alone, and he let out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding. The boy turned to the two crates of Lon Lon Milk and shoved them in such a way that he could climb into the small hole into the castle, that appeared to feed the moat water. He did, however, grab a few jugs of milk from one of the crates before drinking them, eager to satisfy his thirst. Lamenting the fact that the jugs were too unwieldy to use as bottles, Link clambered on top of the box before leaping into the small, water-filled hole and crawling through. His internal clock told Link that it was about 1:00 AM.

He never got the chance to leave the opening, because the first thing the boy saw was a pair of guards guarding the only exit from the tiny area, excluding going back. And going back was hardly an option.

He wasn't exactly keen on staying put, either. Remaining in this tiny crawl space was an awful idea, simply because the Shadow Temple had made Link claustrophobic. There was only one course of action to take, wasn't there?

Link backed out of the crawlspace, pulled the cucco out of his pouch before attempting to silence its mighty crow, then crawled back into the courtyard.

"What is leetle man doing?" Ivan asked.

"Don't speak," Link ordered. "You'll give us away."

Ivan looked like he wanted to argue, but didn't.

By this time, Link was approaching the exit to the crawlspace. The water gurgled below him, and his wet hands felt like they were turning to icicles, but he pressed on.

"Goddesses, please let this work," Link prayed in a whisper before just barely exiting the tunnel. "Bombs away!"

He chucked the Cucco at the guards, both of whom had their backs turned before retreating back into the crawlspace enough so that he wouldn't be seen. The bird collided with the guard's spearhead, which was being held over his right shoulder at attention.

The two guards spun at the Cucco's agonized squawk, expressions of confusion on their faces. The small bird started ululating an ear splitting screech as its brethren poured over the castle walls directly at the two guards.

Now, an onslaught of chickens was the exact antithesis of whatever the guards were expecting, and they reacted accordingly. The two grown men, knowing that they were unequipped to deal with the poultry's wrath, threw down their weapons and ran away screaming at the top of their lungs.

"_We have a Code Feather! Code Feather! All personnel are to follow Protocol 19! We repeat: Code Feather_!"

The door to Link's left burst open as a flood of dignitaries and servants surged forth into the courtyard, searching for safety from the cucco crisis. Realizing that he could use the chaos to his advantage, Link pulled himself from the storm drain, tugged Ivan into his hat, and joined the river of people. He dashed past shrubs, statues, and fountains before separating from the crowd and moving deeper into the castle. The Cuccos were still agitated, despite the guards' best efforts to quell them, and they continued to make a ruckus.

Link sprinted through the halls, still swarmed with people he couldn't recognize. He tried his best to look terrified when a wave of Cuccos nearly bowled him over in search of guards to take vengeance on, diving to his right down another corridor. There were more birds at the end of the hallway, so Link darted into another hallway that looked absolutely identical. This procedure repeated itself so many times that Link lost count, simply rounding corners and sprinting up stairs and down hallways with no consciousness of location or direction.

This hallway he had stumbled into was completely devoid of all life. There were no Cuccos nor people present. Link breathed a sigh of relief until he faintly heard the pitter-patter of footsteps down an adjoining hall. Seeing no other alternatives, Link wrenched open the first door he came to and slipped inside, closing the door behind him.

He had ended up in a bedroom, with walls painted a peculiar shade of pink. There was a fireplace nestled in the corner, with a crib right nearby it, a vanity along the other wall, a door leading onto a balcony that overlooked the courtyard, and a regal-looking, massive four-poster bed. It looked like it had been recently disturbed, like someone had just gotten out of it in a hurry. A closet door was ajar, and Link, curiosity piqued, pried it open just a bit more. There were some dresses, some kind of kunai, and a headdress that was unmistakably-

Oh, dear Goddesses.

He, a seventeen-year-old boy- sort of- had stumbled into Princess Zelda's personal bedchamber.

Link felt his face heat up, and a bolt of fear shot through him when he heard footsteps approaching the door. Panicking, Link ran to the balcony, wrenched the door open, and hid behind the wall.

He heard the door open with a shuddering creak, accompanied by near-silent footsteps. He realized with a wave of terror that in his mad dash out of the room, he had neglected to fully close the balcony door. If he was kicked out of the castle now… he'd probably never get back in again. This was his only chance. He couldn't risk being caught. He racked his brain for any possibilities, only to come up with nothing.

"Impa?" A lyrical, quiet voice emanated.

"Yes, Princess?" A more mature voice replied.

"Remind me again why the castle was in such a ruckus?"

"The guards were attacked by a swarm of cuccos. You and your father needed to be taken to safety until the threat was nullified."

"I see. Impa?"

"Yes, Princess?"

"I'm glad I was woken up; I had that nightmare again."

"Again? Did you tell your father?"

"Of course I did, Impa, but he's convinced it's not prophetic."

"Perhaps it is, perhaps it is not," Impa placated. "If it is, then there is no reason to fret, because the boy with the fairy will come. If it is not, then there is no reason to fret, because the darkness is only in a dream."

"Are they talking about us?" Ivan whispered from above Link's head.

"Shut up, Ivan," Link whispered back assertively.

"Thank you for reminding me, Impa."

"You are welcome, Princess. Now, let's go back to sleep."

A melodious humming noise filled the room, intended to lull the Princess Zelda to slumber. Link could barely resist the desire to pull out his ocarina and join in the tune. A light snoring filled the room as the princess fell asleep. The adult part of Link knew it was horribly indecent to still be standing there on the balcony, but he felt such a strange sense of peace when standing there, listening to Zelda and the future Sage of Shadow talk, that he couldn't bring himself to move.

Footsteps once again pervaded the silence as Impa moved to leave the room. But inexplicably, the footsteps seemed to grow more loud rather than less.

Link's eyes widened as he realized the sound's significance. He had only seconds to react as he dove over the edge of the balcony, grabbing onto the edge with his fingers as the door to the outlook eased open. A woman with silvery hair, a metal breastplate, and sinister red eyes stepped out, staring pensively out into the interior of the castle. Link dared not speak, move or even breathe as he slowly lost purchase, inexorably sliding off of the balcony.

Then he looked below him and immediately wished he hadn't.

It was a long way down, far enough that he'd probably break his knees if he happened to slip. His hands were slick with sweat as he silently battled to keep from falling off, feet kicking desperately in the air. Why was Impa just standing there?

Ivan flew out from under Link's hat, illuminating the balcony's underbelly and its scaffolding. Grateful, Link swung his legs so that they wrapped around the supports, making just the tiniest bit of noise as his boots scraped over the stone. His job done, the sprite darted back into the cap.

Link heard the door shut. Thank the Goddesses. Impa must have-

Suddenly, he felt himself being raised up by the back of his collar, forcing his legs to dig into the rough stone supports of the balcony. Surprised, Link's limbs instinctually loosened, allowing the upwards force to completely pull apart the boy's hold. Link was raised until he was eye to eye with the Sheikah woman, a kunai digging into his neck to ensure that there was no struggling on Link's part.

"I thought there was someone back here," Impa whispered, dangerously calm. "Now, give me one good reason why I shouldn't slit your throat."

Ivan casually flew out from under Link's hat. "Because Ivan would kill you before you could draw a drop of blood."

There was a palpable silence.

"How much did you hear of our conversation?" Impa inquired.

"Not too much. Something about a-"

The kunai dug deeper into Link's flesh, eliciting a droplet of blood to ooze forth from his skin. "Don't lie to me," Impa warned.

"Okay, I heard a little more than 'not too much'," Link elaborated exasperatedly. "Something about a cucco invasion, a boy from the forest, and Gan- a great darkness."

The Sheikah frowned, pensive. "You wouldn't happen to be from the forest, would you?"

"As a matter of fact, I am," Link revealed. "And I'm here to warn you that -"

_Wait._ Impa, like Saria and probably the rest of the Sages, had no recollection of the events of the other time. Therefore, it would be unwise for Link to further screw with this timeline, or else it could lead to further devastation. He would much rather discuss this with Zelda, who would surely remember everything. She must. She had to. If she didn't… well, Link didn't know what he'd do.

"- that the Great Deku Tree is dead, cursed by a black man from the desert," the Hylian finished.

Impa muttered Ganondorf's name under her breath.

"He was after the Spiritual Stone of the Forest, which the Deku Tree gave to me with his dying breath," Link continued. "He wants to open the Door of Time and seize the Triforce!"

"I think I have a theory as to who this man is," Impa said, lowering Link down so that he was standing on the balcony. "He is Ganondorf, king of the Gerudo. This status gives him political armor that we can't penetrate without incurring another war."

"But we must protect Hyrule!" Link pleaded.

"That we must. The only solution I could think of would be to take the Triforce before he could. Anything else would cause pandemonium…"

Impa continued talking, but Link temporarily tuned her out. He knew that there was no way in hell that he would draw the Master Sword once again, even if his mission to regain his lost childhood had already failed.

"...Of course. You must collect the Spiritual Stones and open the Door of Time. You will talk to Princess Zelda tomorrow in the morning. Without your sword. Until then, I will lead you to a place where you can rest and pick you up in a few hours."

Link nodded his assent, and with a flash of a Deku Nut, they were gone.

**!0*0!**

Link awoke a few hours later, grasping for a blade that was no longer attached to his back and breathing heavily, sweat dripping down his blonde locks. His dreams had carried him to the Spirit Temple, and the sudden realization that he was fighting Nabooru in an Iron Knuckle suit.

He needed to calm down badly. The last thing he wanted was to act like a complete lunatic in front of Princess Zelda. He had been forced to rest in a secluded section of the castle intended for servants, but the incredibly soft bed made the child feel like he was going to sink straight into the floor, so he opted to cut the mattress entirely and slumber propped up against the wall, one eye open. Impa had taken his blade, saying that she would return it after he met with Zelda. Evidently, the princess's caretaker trusted him about as far as she could throw him, which Link could understand. Her job was to protect Zelda at all costs. Of course some random half-beast child from the forest could be a threat to the princess.

Speaking of Impa, she was easing the door open with an audible creak, shaking Link out of his doldrums.

"Did you tell Zelda?" he asked instantly.

"I want it to be a surprise," Impa said, a ghost of a grin visible on her face. "She's been waiting for a very long time for you, after all."

Link's hopes skyrocketed at this statement. Zelda was waiting for him. She remembered. She had to have remembered. He wouldn't have to draw the Master Sword, and he could try his damnedest to be a kid again. Right?

Right?

After a much-needed breakfast of Hylian oatmeal and an even more desperately needed bath, Link was permitted to enter the courtyard and see the Princess. He told himself that everything would be all right, over and over and over and over again. It was going to be okay. It had to be okay. He wasn't going to have to go through Ganondorf's reign again.

Then he saw the Princess, exactly the way he remembered, staring through the window. Link knew that she could see Ganondorf and her father, making arrangements to usher peace into the kingdom… except for the fact that they weren't.

Silently, Link approached the Princess, not daring to say anything.

Ivan, perched on his shoulder, cleared his throat in order to get the Princess's attention.

"Impa, I'm trying to hear what they're saying!" Zelda whined, not turning around.

Doubt was beginning to permeate Link's mind as he stood there, staring at the back of the princess's head.

"Z… Zelda?" he croaked.

This got her attention, as she whirled around with a tiny gasp, shock evident on her childish features. Now that he knew her, Link could see the Wisdom buried beneath her infantile innocence. He could see all the things that made Zelda… Zelda.

"What?! Who? Who are you? How did you get past the guards?" she demanded.

Link froze. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Zelda didn't remember. Hope had died. The Zelda he knew was gone forever.

"Z-Zel… You… don't… remember me?" Link asked shakily, tears forming in his eyes as he desperately clung to the dead shreds of hope. Ivan was looking at him like he'd just licked the Princess on the mouth. He prayed that she would smile and say "yes, I remember you, Link!"

Instead, she looked at him like he was crazy. "I'm afraid I have no recollection of ever meeting you, mister…?"

"Link, Princess. It's Link," the boy answered, accepting defeat.

"Link…" Zelda said, his name flowing off of her tongue like a slap to the face. "It seems so… familiar…"

_You have no idea how much that hurt, Zel,_ Link thought to himself.

"Oh, what's that? Is that… a fairy?"

"Ivan would prefer to be called Ivan, Printsessa Zelda," Ivan said respectfully.

"Are you from the forest, then, Link and Ivan? Then… you wouldn't happen to have the Kokiri Emerald, would you? That green and shining stone… please tell me you have it."

If Link had spoken, he would have started bawling, and the adult in Link told him that that was hardly appropriate for the situation. Wordlessly, Link reached into his pouch and pulled out the aforementioned gemstone.

"Just as I thought!" Zelda exclaimed, giggling. Link noted that it was the _exact_ same laugh as the one Saria and Malon had uttered. Odd.

"I had a dream…" Zelda went on, oblivious to Link's inner turmoil. "In the dream, dark storm clouds were billowing over Hyrule. But suddenly, a ray of light shot down out of the forest, parted the clouds, and lit up the world… The light turned into a boy carrying the Spiritual Stone of the Forest, followed by a fairy. I knew that this was a prophecy that someone would come down from the forest… Yes, I thought you might be the one.

"Okay then, Link. I'm going to tell you the secret of the Sacred Realm that has been passed down through the Hylian royal family."

"Actually, that won't be necessary," Link assured, trying to hear as little of Zelda's voice as he could get away with. "I already know the tale. The Triforce grants wishes that reflect the holder's heart, and you need the Spiritual Stones and the Ocarina of Time to open the Door of Time to go to the Sacred Realm to get the Triforce. Am I right?"

Zelda looked stupefied. "Well… yes, actually! That's exactly what I was going to say! How did you know?

"I have my sources," Link replied cryptically.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you," Zelda noted, changing the subject. "I was spying through this window just now at the person who I think represents the black clouds in my dream. Will you look?"

"I don't see why not," Link said, approaching the window and peering inside.

He watched Ganondorf, the king of the Gerudo, approach from the right and kneel at the foot of a throne he knew was there but couldn't quite see.

"Can you see the man with the evil eyes? That is Ganondorf, King of the Gerudo. They hail from the desert to the west. Though he swears allegiance to my father, I'm certain that he is insincere."

The Gerudo King suddenly glanced towards the window. Remembering Ganondorf as the King of Evil, Link was hardly fazed until his eyes started glowing gold, faintly but menacingly.

Turning away from the window with a measure of shock, Link stared at Zelda.

"What happened? Did he see you?" Zelda asked, appearing worried for Link's well-being. "Don't worry. He has no idea what we're planning… yet!"

"He just has… so much terrifying power," Link uttered, sounding like a scared little boy. But he wasn't. He was a scared young man.

"My father doesn't believe that my dream is a prophecy," Zelda said glumly. "But I can sense that man's evil intentions! Link, Ganondorf is after nothing less than the Triforce itself! And he wants to conquer Hyrule… no, the entire world! We are the only ones who can protect Hyrule. Please!"

"O- okay," Link stuttered, still vainly wishing that this was all a bad dream. He knew it wasn't.

If Zelda noticed his internal crisis, she didn't comment on it. "Thank you! I am afraid that that man is going to destroy Hyrule. But it is fortuitous that you have come… We mustn't let Ganondorf get the Triforce! I'll protect the Ocarina, you have to collect the other two Spiritual Stones and open the Door of Time, and take the Triforce before Ganondorf gets it!"

"Over my dead body!" Link exclaimed, shocking the princess. "That's a golden opportunity for Ganondorf to waltz into the Sacred Realm and take the Triforce for himself!"

"But if you take the Triforce…"

"I won't be able to. I'll be sealed in the Sacred Realm because I'm too young to wield the Master Sword!" Link stated exasperatedly.

"How do you know tha-"

"Just trust me, Zelda! Trust me, because we have no other choice!" Link yelled. Goddesses, he must have sounded like a raving madman. "I want to stop Ganondorf as much as you do, if not more, but I'm wouldn't open the Door of Time if there was a blade at my throat!

"I'll get the other two Spiritual Stones, and then I'm going to bring them to a safe haven. Somewhere far away, where Ganondorf will never find them. He'll never be able to get into the Sacred Realm and seize the Triforce, and boom! All his plans are thwarted!"

The Princess and Ivan stared at him like he was insane, which he probably was. Then Ivan opened his mouth to speak.

"Ivan thinks this is a good plan Link has cooked up," Ivan chimed in. "All we have to do is prevent Ganondorf from getting into the Sacred Realm, and we have succeeded."

"Hm… I agree with Ivan," Zelda added. "Take this letter… I'm sure it will be helpful to you."

She scrawled a few words on some stationery and handed it to Link, who took it gratefully.

"My attendant, Impa, will lead you out of the castle," Zelda said. "Please… be safe."

It was the exact last words the Zelda from his childhood had said to him before he left this courtyard. He turned to avoid showing his tears and walked towards the Sheikah.

"I am Impa of the Sheikah. I don't believe we had the chance to properly introduce ourselves last night. I am responsible for protecting the Princess Zelda, and everything is as she has foretold."

"I'm called Link," the boy replied, forcing his voice to remain flat. "It's nice to meet you, Miss Impa."

A small smile crossed her face. "You are a courageous boy, given that you didn't react all too badly when I had a kunai pressed to your throat -"

"Excuse me?" Zelda squealed from across the courtyard, mortification evident in her voice.

"Nothing, Princess," Impa replied quickly. "Anyway, you are heading out on a big, old adventure, aren't you? My role in the princess's dream was to teach a melody to the one from the forest. This is an ancient tune passed down by the Royal Family. I have played this song for Zelda every since she was an infant… there is a mysterious power in these notes."

Realizing that he was going to learn Zelda's Lullaby, finally, Link pulled out his ocarina and pressed it to his lips.

"Now, listen carefully," the Sheikah said before putting two fingers to her mouth and whistling Zelda's Lullaby. Suddenly, memories of Link playing the six-note tune flooded his consciousness, and Link was able to play the song with a practiced ease.

"Very good," Impa said. "If the castle soldiers find you, there will be trouble. Let me lead you out to Hyrule Field."

With a flash of a Deku Nut, they were gone, leaving Zelda to ponder why Link was so familiar.

**!0*0!**

**For all of you who wanted to see Zelda remember, I'm sorry, but that ain't going to happen. The events of the first timeline are remembered by Link and Link alone. Maybe it's because I'm evil. Maybe I just want my characters [and my readers] to suffer. Maybe it makes for a good plot. Not quite sure.**

**Oh, and for all you ZeLinkers out there: OoT MaLink is canon. Why? Because TP Link knows Epona's Song and Hyrule Historia confirms that there's a blood relation between TP Link and OoT Link. Get on my level. **

**NOOTTD: 1. Summer's Day just seems like something that would actually exist in this world. It's a fusion between the MM Clock Town Festival and the average summer solstice party.**

**2\. Who would be crazy enough to not fear Stalfos Hand Link? [Don't answer that.]**

**3\. You inexplicably lose the Cucco when you get Zelda's Letter. Now we have an explanation.**

**4\. I have a personal theory that Zelda was being trained to fight by Impa for quite some time. And even if she wasn't, the kunai makes sense because Impa is basically Zelda's bodyguard as well as her mother figure.**

**Anyway, that was Chapter 3! I don't really have anything else to say here, so… yeah. Love it? Hate it? Want to throw a cucco at me? Then leave a review!**


	4. Chapter 3: Dead Mountain

**Hey! It's me! Furiz! And I'm back with another chapter of this. I don't have much to say here because I'm no longer quite as stressed! Huzzah!**

**Also, on an unrelated note, FF dot net was refusing to update the review section on my end. So the properties tab tells me that I have new reviews, but then won't show them to me in the actual doc themselves. I'll still be able to respond to reviews, because the emails tell me what they say. This issue has since been resolved, but I'd just figure I'd mention it in case it repeats itself.**

**RRRP:**

_Ri2: _Yes. And it's hilarious.

_ChangelingRin_: KaeGae is built to be ignored. As for the other half… no comment.

_RyoshiMorino, who falls under the same category as ChangelingRin:_ Wow, thanks! I didn't actually mean for this to be a tragedy; originally, it was meant to b a simple piece poking fun at the insane mechanics of Master Quest. And it still is, to some extent. But as I was writing it, I saw a golden opportunity to tell a story about overcoming one's demons and dealing with loss, which I could show very well through Link. The only reason it's marked as 'tragedy' on the listing is because I can't think of another better marker. I've written the whole story already and I can safely say that it gets less heavy-hearted as time goes on. Besides, OoT and MM are inherently tragic stories, and I guess that bled into the narrative on its own.

_The Epitome of Eccentricity: _Kinda. In her defense, Zelda didn't actually know that sending Link back would cause... well, this. Thanks for the feedback!

**DISCLAIMER: In an alternate universe, I said that I owned The Legend of Zelda. I proceeded to be copyright struck. I don't want to get copyright struck, so I'm not going to say that I own The Legend of Zelda.**

_Chapter III: Dead Mountain_

"Fuck," Link swore. "I forgot to buy a pair of gloves."

"Language!" Ivan scolded. "Besides, shouldn't we be heading to Death Mountain, like Impa told us to?"

"The last thing we want is for the Gorons to throw us out of their city like the Hylians did back in that one town," Link argued, walking back across the drawbridge. Ivan grumbled, but followed.

Once he was in the town, Link walked into the bazaar, ignoring the Goron trying to sell bombs. He didn't have a bomb bag, so he couldn't have held them anyway.

"Um, excuse me, sir?" Link asked innocently, trying his best to sound like an average Hylian kid. Cheerful, ignorant, and undefiled.

"Oh, hello, kid! What would you like?" The shopkeeper replied amicably, beard wagging in tandem with his words. "Our top seller is the Hylian Shield, but it might be a bit too big for you."

"That's fine, thank you," Link said, trying to summon puppy eyes. "My mum has arthritis, and her birthday is coming up, so I was wondering if you had any gloves I could buy for her?"

"I don't know, kid… I've got some Hylian Knight's greaves, but-

"Have they got steel plating on them?" Link asked.

"Well, no…"

"Great. How much?"

"Lowest I could go is… thirty Rupees."

Link checked his wallet before remembering that he had picked up three Red Rupees on the castle walls. "Here you go," the child said, setting two on the counter that a solid foot taller than he was. He had to stand on the tips of his toes just to put the Rupees on the table.

Goddesses, he hated being a kid.

The owner turned around and walked into a back room, from which several loud banging noises could be heard. The shopkeep soon walked out with a pair of rough leather gloves in tow. Snatching the forty Rupees from the counter, he set the gloves and two Blue Rupees on the tabletop for Link to take, which he did.

"Thank you, sir!" Link said, walking out of the store with his purchase.

Once out of sight, the boy took the gloves and pulled them onto both his left and right hand. They were monstrously large on his infantile hands, but a bit of twine could solve that issue in a heartbeat.

They would have fit perfectly if he wasn't just a child.

**!0*0!**

"Why is leetle man going back to forest?" Ivan demanded.

"Because I need to see Saria," Link replied.

"No, you don't!" Ivan argued. "Link is supposed to be saving the world, not visiting friends!"

"I need to see Saria," Link angrily sighed, "because she'll teach me a song that lets me cheer up Darunia so that I can go get the Goron Ruby!"

Ivan blinked. "What? How do you know that Saria will teach you a song? For that matter, what was the whole thing with Printsessa Zelda about 'remembering'? And 'Zel'?! You shouldn't refer to a _printsessa_ by a nickname! It's terribly rude!"

"Don't question it, Ivan," Link growled.

"Link," the sprite stated, trying to stay calm. "Ivan is your guardian fairy. Ivan wants to be able to help you every step of the way. All Ivan ever wanted to do was help. But Ivan cannot help you if leetle man is _fighting_ Ivan. Ivan just wants to help you, so could you please let Ivan help you?"

"_That's what Navi said!"_ Link roared, whirling on his fairy, who was too stunned to properly react. "_That's what Zelda said! That's what they all said before they forgot!"_

Ivan stared at the boy, letting him vent.

"You weren't there. You can't understand," Link spat coldly.

"Then make Ivan understand," the fairy ordered calmly.

"No!" Link screamed. "You'll never get it! You won't! You _won't!"_

"Why not?" Ivan asked, his voice dwarfed by that of his partner.

"Because!"

By this point, Link was trembling with the levels of fury building up in his mind. Then he made a decision, consequences be damned. He wanted Ivan to feel his pain, to feel his suffering, to feel his anguish, to feel his torment, to feel his hatred, to feel how Link felt when his entire world was going up in flames.

"Do you really want to know? Do you really want to _fucking_ know?"

"Language!"

If Ivan wanted to understand, then by the Goddesses, Link was going to _make _him understand.

"I've already saved the world, Ivan! None of this is _new_! The Great Deku Tree's died twice now! And just like now, he sent me to see Princess Zelda, and she sent me to get the Spiritual Stones! Only when I came back, Ganondorf had killed the King and forced Zelda and Impa into hiding. Back then, I didn't know that opening the Door of Time would allow Ganondorf to get to the Sacred Realm, so I opened the Door as Zelda asked. But then, the Gerudo King to touch the Triforce and become the King of Evil for seven long years.

"I was in a forced coma in the Sacred Realm for all that time because I'm too young to be the Hero of Time. Then I'm sent on another quest to create five Sages from my childhood friends! It was awful! And when I was done with all that, Zelda gets herself captured by Ganondorf and I have to march to his castle and confront him! I killed him. I hacked at his corpse until his head was more red with blood than with hair. And when I was done… they sent me back to before I did any of it. They didn't ask for what I wanted, they didn't care. Nobody cared! They never cared!"

By this point, the boy was crying heavily, trying and failing to regain his composure. This was no way for an adult to act. He shouldn't be acting like this. He wasn't some scared child anymore. He couldn't be.

"When I came to… I was back in Kokiri Forest. A day before my adventure began last time. The forest remembered my struggles and punished me for it," he continued, brandishing his Stalfos hand. "Nobody remembers, not even Zelda. Only me. And the next day, instead of Navi, _you_ show up."

"Ivan assumes that Navi was the fairy from the other timeline, then?" Ivan inquired solemnly.

"Yeah. And she was great. I loved her. She was better than _you_."

As soon as the proclamation left his mouth, he knew that he had messed up, especially considering the raw venom laced into the words. Ivan said nothing, only looking blankly into Link's eyes.

"Iv-Ivan needs to go. Ivan will be back. Don't go anywhere," the fairy finally choked, darting off into the forest.

"No, Ivan! Wait!" Link hollered, desperately trying to keep up with his guardian. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! I promise!"

If his words had any effect on the fairy, they didn't show, as Ivan rounded a bend and disappeared.

He didn't know how long he stood there, numb to the world, as he tried to process how badly he had screwed up. There could have been a sword pressed to the back of his neck and he wouldn't have noticed, simply staring off into the entrance of Kokiri Forest.

He trudged to one side of the small canyon that led to the forest and sank down against it, nearly bawling his eyes out. There was no use comparing Ivan to Navi. It was like comparing a Goron to a Zora.

Emotion boiled inside Link; anguish at Ivan, hatred at the world, vexation at Zelda, and most prominently, absolute loathing at himself. In his mind, he raged at the Goddesses, at Ganondorf, and at anything and everything else, no matter how large or small.

The ex-Hero got up, angry tears still falling down his face, as he rammed his fist into the side of the canyon, ignoring how it split his knuckles and sent shards of agony up his arm.

"_Why? Won't? You? Remember!?" _he screamed, sinking to his knees and taking his anger out on the softer ground instead. His Kokiri Sword dug into his side, but he didn't care. If anything, he welcomed it. Physical pain was a distraction from the far greater torment of failure.

**!0*0!**

"Ivan has returned- oh my Goddesses, what happened to you?"

"I happened," Link replied solemnly. He imagined how he must have looked- blood-soaked, tear tracks down his face, unkempt hair, and a faux smile. No wonder Ivan was concerned.

"Well, Ivan never wants to see this again. Crying is fine, we all have to let out emotions sometimes, but leetle man should not be actively hurting himself. It's pathetic."

"I know, Ivan, but you haven't had your entire _existence_ swept out from under you."

"Think of it this way, leetle man," Ivan said comfortingly, perching himself on Link's shoulder. "You have a chance to right all the wrongs Ganondorf will commit before they are even committed. You have a chance to prevent so much suffering and death. You can save Hyrule and live your life. And no matter what you choose, Ivan will always stand by you."

The sprite wasn't wrong. The Goddesses had to have let him alone remember for some reason or other. He could stop that abysmal future from ever becoming a reality. He had to.

_Ivan will always stand by you_. It was a comforting thought, a foreign thought. On that first day in this mirrored world, not even Navi had stood by him. She didn't exist anymore. Saria didn't remember. Impa didn't remember. Zelda didn't remember. Nobody remembered. Nobody stood by Link except the one he knew the least.

_I'll hold you to that,_ Link thought. _And let you be damned if you lead me astray._

"I guess. Ivan?"

"Yes, Link?"

"I wonder what happened to Navi," Link said wistfully.

"Ivan is sure that she's out there, somewhere," Ivan placated. "We just have yet to find her."

"Ivan? Link asked.

"Da?"

"I didn't mean what I said earlier… you know, about Navi."

"Ivan knows," Ivan replied. "You are just missing a friend. No harm in that."

"Is there any way we can bring back everyone's memories?"

The sprite looked pensive. "Maybe. But it is certainly beyond Ivan's power."

"All right," Link said, wiping stray tears from his eyes. "Let's go see Saria again."

"Very well," Ivan declared, perching himself on Link's shoulder. "Onwards!"

Even though he knew Ivan was just trying to cheer him up, Link let out a laugh. He strolled forwards, across the bridge, back into the forest.

**!0*0!**

"I've been waiting for you, Link!" Saria said happily, ceasing her cheery ocarina tune. Link had been sure to heal himself in the Fairy Fountain in the middle of the maze-like Sacred Forest Meadow before presenting himself to her, so as not to stress the Kokiri girl. The pair were spared from the cold night winds by the geography of the small valley.

"It's nice seeing you too," the Hylian replied, setting himself down on another stump and preemptively pulling out his ocarina.

"Does this place ever make you feel anything?" she asked suddenly.

"Er…" Link contemplated, remembering the Forest Temple. "I think it'll be important to both of us someday.

"That's what I feel, too!" Saria agreed. "I think we ought to be able to communicate over long distances, so that when the time comes, we know to come here. If you play the ocarina with me, I can teach you to talk through the spirits of the forest. You want to try?"

"Absolutely!" Link replied ecstatically, happy to be back on track.

"Alright then, try to follow along with the melody I play. Ready?"

Without wasting any time, Saria pressed the wind instrument to her lips and started playing that catchy song again. She stopped after a bit, looking at Link expectantly.

Suddenly remembering what he was doing, Link hastily held his ocarina to his mouth and played the song again, suddenly remembering all the other times he's used it to talk to Saria.

"Great! Great!" she exclaimed. "Please try to not forget this song. Do you promise?"

"I swear on my life," Link replied. "I'll see you again soon."

"I wish you never had to leave in the first place," Saria said wistfully, deep blue eyes staring off into the distance.

"It's okay. I just have to blow up a primordial lizard, heal a fish god, and hopefully not get engaged to Princess Ruto. Once that's all done, I'll come back with all three Spiritual Stones in tow, and I can stay here for as long as I can."

His proclamation, if confusing, seemed to lift Saria's spirits, but hardly all the way up to the way he remembered her being a lifetime ago, when she was just as carefree and happy as every other Kokiri.

"When you want to hear my voice, play that song. You can talk to me any time…" she trailed off. Link sidled closer, wanting this moment to not end quite so soon.

"If I want to talk to you, I'll either play the song or drop by in person. Just hang in there," Link promised before standing solemnly and jogging out of the Sacred Forest Meadow.

He left Saria there, looking at the boy leaving her world, as she mournfully putting the ocarina to her lips once more and resuming her song, as if sending Link off to his doom.

**!0*0!**

It was raining in Hyrule Field, like it was recognizing Link's suffering and weeping over it. The morose child in question was propped up on a tree, glowering at the world with a muted hatred. Ivan couldn't look happier, though; he was flitting amongst the raindrops without a care in the world, and Link couldn't help but find his positivity infectious. He couldn't help but let a small smile grace his features, the last vestiges of outward rage finally bottling itself up with the rest.

Great. Now he had to pray to the Goddesses to disregard all those curses he had sworn on various people. Mostly Zelda.

His stomach growled, reminding him of its existence. Sighing to himself, Link pulled an apple out of his pocket that he had picked up from the forest and bit into it, juice dribbling down his chin.

At least he didn't have to worry about the moon falling out of the sky or anything.

Finishing the apple and chucking it into the storm, Link assembled his gear and continued onwards, summoning his shield to protect himself from the rain.

He would be at Kakariko by morning.

Then again, at this rate, he could be at Lon Lon Ranch by midnight… and he did have to go there anyway to learn Epona's Song…

No contest.

Turning towards the Ranch, Link trudged through the rain. He somehow got there a few minutes earlier than expected, but he soon realized a problem.

Literally everyone was asleep. That being said, he would kill for some sleep, himself. Surely he had time.

Link walked into the ranch, disregarding Ingo passed out outside the stables with a bottle of something in his hands. He stepped into the stables, found a comfortable patch of ground, and slept.

He woke up only an hour later, sweating profusely and nearly screaming in terror before remembering where he was and stopping himself, not wanting to spook the horses.

It was going to be one of those nights, wasn't it?

**!0*0!**

Sunlight streamed into the window as Ivan shook the boy awake. The Hylian in question mumbled something vulgar under his breath before yawning wide, briefly slapping himself across the face to finish waking up.

His stomach growled, reminding Link of his hunger. Passing by a container of carrots, Link shrugged, figuring the horses had plenty before plucking one from its container. He also couldn't resist pocketing a sugar cube on his way out the door.

Judging by the position of the shades in the ranch house's upper windows, its occupants were yet to be awake. Grateful, Link stole out of the ranch before coming back a few minutes later when he heard Malon step outside, singing that hauntingly beautiful tune.

She went straight to the stables and let the horses out into the small field, taking special note of a small rust-colored filly with a shockingly white mane. Link followed, silently until they reached a race track, when he cleared his throat.

"Oh! It's the fairy boy again!" the ranch girl said, evidently surprised. "Thanks for finding my dad! He came home in a hurry after you woke him up, hee hee! Don't worry though, I gave him a piece of my mind. So did you enjoy the castle? Did you ever meet with the Princess?"

"The castle was pretty great. It's definitely a departure from what I'm used to," Link explained. "And I met with the Princess. Thanks for letting me borrow that cucco, by the way."

"Don't mention it!" Malon replied ecstatically. "Oh, I have to introduce you to my friend, Epona! She's the horse. Isn't she cute?"

"She'll grow up to be a fine mare," Link replied automatically. As soon as he said it, the young horse noticed Link's presence and bolted, nearly trampling the boy in the process.

"It seems that Epona is afraid of you, fairy boy," Malon said wistfully. "Don't take it personally. She's like that with almost everyone. Even Daddy and Ingo!"

"Like that with everyone, huh," Link said airily.

Malon went back to singing. Link spent a few minutes soaking it all in - the setting, the singing, the way the sun shone over the gates that led back to Hyrule Field.

"I like your song," he finally commented.

"Really?" Malon asked, positively glowing. "My mother composed it herself. Can you sing?"

The one occasion Link had tried singing was at this very time, as he was trying to learn Epona's Song. He had broken every single window in the ranch house and spooked half of the horses on the farm.

For that reason, Link stuck to his ocarina.

"I can't sing to save my life," Link replied honestly, slightly embarrassed. "But I can play the ocarina pretty well."

"You can play the ocarina? That's really cool! I want to hear you play something!"

"Well… how about your mother's song? I think that'd be fitting," Link suggested, trying to remain calm.

Malon seemed to adore the idea, her cerulean eyes shining with joy. "That sounds wonderful! This is the song…"

**!0*0!**

"Hey, kid! The road is closed beyond this point! Can't you read the sign over there?" the guard hollered. "Oh, I see. You're just a little kid, and you can't read yet. Ha ha hah!"

Link was standing in front of the gate to Death Mountain, still giddy from his visit to the Ranch. He'd have to go back at some point to unwind, assuming Ivan didn't tease him about Malon again. The sprite had burst into raucous laughter when Talon had asked Link "how he'd like to marry Malon", with the youth's response being one of flustered half-statements and unbridled embarrassment. That happiness was slowly being drained, however, by this moronic guard and his tireless belittling of the Hero.

"Ivan, could you please Mind Hack him?" Link whispered under his breath. "I don't want to listen to this clown anymore."

"Nyet! He's just a soldier doing his job. Ivan can't Mind Hack him in good conscience," the fairy replied.

"Fine," Link muttered, walking closer to the guard. "Perhaps this would change your mind?" he said, brandishing Zelda's signed letter.

The guard, evidently trying to humor Link, snatched the note out of his hands and opened it, muttering to himself, before glancing at the Princess's signature. It probably wouldn't have taken as much time if the Hero had decided to wait until morning to proceed.

"This is… this is surely Princess Zelda's handwriting… but how did it get to you, a commoner?" the guard asked.

"Long story involving a cucco," Link replied flippantly.

"Hmmm… you live on a farm or something?"

"Let's go with that."

"Okay… _This is Link… he is under my orders to save Hyrule,_" the guard read, laughing to himself. "What kind of funny game has our princess come up with now?!"

_Don't kill him_, Link tried to convince himself. _Don't cut him into bloody red ribbons. Don't stab him in the eye. Don't make him go to the Graveyard in a box. Don't shove a Deku Stick so far up his ass that I could see it poking out of his mouth._

"Okay, okay all right. You can go along now… just be careful, Mister Hero! Wah ha hah!"

He rammed the butt of his spear into the ground, and suddenly the iron gate behind him silently slid into its receptacle. Link pitied whoever's job it was to pull the gate open and shut.

"By the way, Mr. Hero… if you're going to climb Death Mountain, you should equip a shield! It is an active volcano, after all!"

"I'll be fine, thank you," Link replied, racking his brain for a suitable lie. "They're a bit too heavy for me and they don't really fit on my back."

"If you ever change your mind, just drop by the Bazaar at Hyrule Castle. Tell 'em I sent you, and they'll give you a discount of some kind!"

The shopkeeper definitely wouldn't. He knew from experience.

"I'd like to ask a favor of you. No, not just because of the great tip I gave you! I'm just asking! Have you been to the Happy Mask Shop in Castle Town? Everyone's talking about it?"

"I've heard of it," Link said cryptically.

"My son pesters me for a mask, but I don't have time to go there… Well, I have no choice… this is my job… sigh…"

"Maybe," Link replied before remembering something.

_Shit, I have to get the Sun's Song from the graveyard! _he thought.

He ran through the village, avoiding the well and passing right by the cucco pen with that lady who bred cuccos, which was to the left of the well rather than to the right. Even after becoming intimately familiar with the mirrored Hyrule, it never ceased to throw him off. The seven birds were clucking agitatedly in their pen as their keeper tried desperately to placate them.

"Where is leetle man going?" Ivan demanded. "Death Mountain is the other way!"

"You promised to trust me," Link said. "Trust me. There's a song that we need to learn here."

Ivan thought for a moment. "Da," he finally agreed, flying faster to keep up with Link.

**!0*0!**

"This place gives Ivan the creeps."

"I know, me too, but it's something we have to do," Link persuaded, walking deep into the graveyard and disregarding the small child imitating Dampe.

"Don't mess with the graves! I'll tell Dampe!" the child warbled, trying to sound threatening. He failed miserably.

It started drizzling as the boy walked towards the end of the graveyard. They ignored the Poes that rose out of graves occasionally, lanterns whirling about madly.

They approached an engraving of the Triforce on the ground, situated directly in front of the Royal Family's tomb. Shivers crawled up Link's back, but he knew now that they were coming from the Shadow Temple and not the tomb itself, which comforted him somewhat.

Then he remembered what was inside the tomb, and the comfort dissipated.

Forcing the ocarina closer to his lips, Link shakily played Zelda's Lullaby, the simple six notes soothing him a bit. The rain came down harder, as a bright ball of electricity appeared just in front of the headstone, heralding the great lightning bolt and the deafening wave of thunder that followed. The grave exploded into huge fragments of shrapnel, thrusting Link and Ivan backwards unceremoniously. Regaining his bearings, Link got to his feet and jumped down the hole left in the explosion's wake.

"Ivan does not feel right about this," Ivan said warily. "It should be common sense that breaking into and entering tombs isn't a good idea."

"Well, we're not going to get anywhere by not looking," Link pleaded, continuing forwards.

The air down there reeked of decaying flesh and rot, eliciting a violent sneeze from Link. He preemptively loaded his slingshot before progressing forwards, ending up in a small stone room littered with the bones of Zelda's ancestors.

With Ivan's illumination, Link was easily able to kill the flock of Keese that had taken up residence in the room, making the way forwards open once more. Clambering up the cool stone stairs, Link progressed forwards until he entered the mildly horrifying final room.

There were three Redeads hunched over in the camber, unresponsive, but Link knew from far too much experience that they would release an agonizing screech when awakened, freezing their prey in terror as they slowly shuffled forwards. Once they got to it, the Redead would pull its victim into an embrace before biting at the back of the skull, trying to devour the brain. It was an awful experience.

Strange pools of luminescent poison also populated the room, and Link didn't feel like walking in it right then.

"That is a Redead," Ivan acknowledged. "Don't make a sound and walk by slowly. And to think that this is a tomb of royalty! Ivan shudders to think of what happens to peasants."

Following Ivan's advice although he didn't really need it, the Hero edged past the Redead blocking the way to the very end of the room. As soon as he thought he was able to, Link broke out into a mad dash for the end of the tunnel, jumping over one of the death pools.

Just before he leapt, a flare of emotional pain surged through his being. Evidently, in all the stress of the moment, he had let his mental barriers down and his anger had came out again. He was forced to take a few seconds to regain some control of his thoughts, but in that time, the Redead had gotten close enough to him to start screeching. The Hero froze, off-balance, as he toppled into the acidic pool. Instantly, it started burning his flesh, forcing Link to thrash wildly in an effort to get out of the basin. The physical pain was enough to get his mind back in order, and dispatching the Redead wasn't that big of an issue thanks to Ivan's Mind Hacking.

"Leetle man," Ivan said, emerging from the dead Redead's head. "Why did you stop?"

"Just a flare-up of my emotional pain," Link replied, sounding like he was discussing the weather. "The acid helped snap me out of it."

Ivan blinked. "That concerns Ivan. Deeply. If your emotional torment is so bad that you need to override it by hurting yourself in the real world, it must be far, _far_ worse than you've been letting on. And Ivan can see very clearly that it's bad. It makes Ivan scared, because Ivan cares about you, and it is tearing Ivan apart to see you willingly inflicting pain on yourself. Now, you are going to tell Ivan how he can help right now, and Ivan is not taking 'no' for an answer."

Link didn't know what to say. His mental turmoil was extremely powerful, and without a distraction, any distraction from that pain, Link was scared that he would quickly fall apart, thus failing in his mission to prevent that doomed timeline from ever occurring. Simply put, the Hero was gripped by fear, and was terrified of that fear. He worried that if he ever let his mind wander, his rage would take control and Link would do something he would later regret.

Link had no clue of how a sprite like Ivan could possibly hope to solve his problems.

"I don't know," Link eventually lamented.

"That's okay," Ivan said comfortingly. "We'll figure it out together. And Ivan will always stand by you."

"Thanks, Ivan. I needed that," the Hylian said, letting a grin grace his features.

"See! Ivan is helping already!" the fairy boomed, his deep laughter filling the cold stone halls with just a little joy.

Now, at the very end of the tomb, did Link find what he was looking for.

**!0*0!**

Finally, Link was on his way to Death Mountain itself. The trek upwards wasn't all that bad; there were only a few Tektikes and a particularly annoying rolling Goron that caused him any issues. And they weren't even that much of an issue. All Link had to do was bash the Tektites over the head with the butt of the Kokiri Sword and hug the cliff side to avoid the Goron. It was morning, a consequence of playing the Sun's Song, when Link entered the home of the rock people in the heart of the mountain.

There were more Gorons than he remembered there being, many of them lounging around and moving as little as possible. He knew that there was a great famine due to the large rock blocking the entrance into their quarry, so Link didn't talk to any of them. Instead, he opted to leap from story to story towards Darunia's chambers and ignore the fact that the Gorons could just eat the rock blocking the cavern entrance.

The rug felt plush under his feet, but Link ignored it as he reached into his pouch for Zelda's-

Oh. The guard had kept the letter. No matter; he could just play Zelda's Lullaby like he had last time. He hadn't wanted to play it, because he knew it would remind him of Zelda and her betrayal.

Grasping his ocarina, Link pressed it to his lips and played the six notes, trying desperately to not burst into tears. There was a silence for a short time before a gruff "Let them in" emanated from the room.

With that, the door opened, revealing Darunia's chamber. Link wasn't quite sure what to call it; it wasn't a bedchamber, because there was no bed, but it wasn't a throne room, either, because there was no throne. He'd call it Darunia's Room and stick with that.

The Goron in question turned towards Link with a confounded expression on his face.

"What the heck?" he questioned. "Who do you think you are? When I heard the song of the Royal Family, I assumed their messenger had arrived, but… you're just some random little kid!"

_Could people _please _stop calling me that? _Link thought.

"Has Darunia, the big boss of the Gorons, really lost so much status to be treated like this by his Sworn Brother, the king?!"

Link knew for a fact that Darunia was very touchy on the subject of Sworn Brothers, and didn't want to antagonize him. The best way to do this would be to dissociate himself as much as possible from the Hylian ruler.

"Actually, no," Link said as placatingly as possible. "I was sent by his daughter to get the Spiritual Stone of Fire and bring it somewhere where it will be safe from Ganondorf. But while I'm here, I'd be happy to help reclaim Dodongo's Cavern."

The Goron stared at the Hylian, unblinking, before bursting into raucous laughter. This went on for a solid five minutes before he suddenly became enraged.

"Now I'm REALLY angry! Get out of my face!" Darunia yelled, shoving Link backwards and out of his face. "You come here asking for the Goron Ruby and demean us by offering to fix our issues? We don't need help from outsiders!"

"Oy! Stone man cannot shove leetle man around! That is Ivan's privilege!" Ivan argued, bursting out from underneath Link's hat. If it were possible for the Goron to be more confused by this encounter, he quickly was.

"Ivan, don't antagonize him. I'll just play the song and everything will be fine," Link placated, pulling out his ocarina and fervently playing Saria's Song.

There was no movement outside of Link's fingers fluttering over the several holes in the ocarina, producing the sounds of the forest in the heart of the mountain. This stillness was suddenly interrupted by the Goron breaking out into possibly the most enthusiastic dance Link had ever seen. He knew the song was good, but after seeing that for the second time now, he ought to convince Saria to write more music like that.

Link took a few steps back, not wanting to interrupt Darunia as he danced his depression away. Absentmindedly, he wondered if this would work for raw and unbridled fury. Then again, he definitely had his rage under control now. Right?

Right?

Finally, the Goron stopped his wild dancing and regained his composure, although he looked much more amicable now than before.

"Heeeey! What a nice tune!" Darunia said cheerfully. "Just like that, all my depression is gone! Something just came over me! I suddenly want to dance like crazy!

"I suppose I should get introductions out of the way. I am Darunia! I'm the big boss of the Gorons! You said you wanted the Spiritual Stone of Fire too, right?"

"Uh, yeah," Link replied. He was glad that he had gotten used to Darunia's mood swings back in the last timeline. "But that can wait. I'm named Link. I'm an ex-Kokiri."

"Well, Link of the Kokiri, if you think you can solve everything, be my guest! If you do that, I will give you anything you want, even the Ruby!"

"Okay, so that's great and all, but there's a slight issue," Link said. "I'd need a Bomb Flower to get into Dodongo's Cavern, but I'm only… ten now, and I'm not quite strong enough to lift it. So…"

Darunia laughed good-naturedly. "That's an easy enough fix. Let me give this bracelet to you. I'm not really giving it to you in return for anything, but take it anyway. If you wear it, even a little fella like you could pluck a Bomb Flower with ease."

"Thank you, Mr. Darunia!" Link said, hating how quickly he responded as the Goron Boss strode over to a nearby table and tossed the solid gold bracelet at the child. He caught it without blinking, put it on, and quickly exited Goron City. Back outside, Link veered left, picked up the Bomb Flower growing there, and launched it over the cliff. It sailed over the small fence and right in front of the cave entrance. When the plant exploded, it took the large rock down with it. Not wanting to waste time, Link leapt over the fence, ignoring Ivan's cry of dismay and disregarding the pain that flared in his legs, and walked into the cavern, ready for anything.

Except failure.

**So… that was that. I'm trying to follow Kubler-Ross' model of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance) in Link as he struggles to come to grips with the fact that he's the only one who remembers anything. The whole mental pain trumped by physical pain subsection is also in alignment with this idea. **

**Basically, I'm trying to have Link work through his grief like a normal person. I promise he won't become (too) fatalistic. I want you, as the reader, to be able to sympathise with Link's struggles, but also not overemphasize said struggles too much. Because too much moping over Link's grief would take away from the narrative, I believe. He's going to do his best to power through it and save the world, just like Link would probably do.**

**NOOTTD: Nothing.**

**Love it? Hate it? Indifferent about it? If you answered yes to any of these, leave a review and tell me why!**


	5. Chapter 4: Dodongos Are So Overrated

**So, we're doing this again. Get ready for MQ Dodongo's Cavern. This'll be fun.**

**RRRP:**

_Ann, both of whose reviews are responded to here: _Link doesn't want to open the Temple of Time. Yeah, he's sort of caught in limbo between being an adult and a child, but… yeah, he's basically a young teenager at this point, mentally. There's a lot of stuff Adult Link wasn't exposed to, so saying that he's a fully-fledged adult at this point isn't quite right.

The best place to hide something is a place where nobody will ever look. The off chance that they'd be stolen from him is too much to risk, so he's not going to flee the country or anything. His hiding spot is pretty smart, though, if I do say so myself.

_ChangelingRin:_ Ivan was designed to be an anti-Navi, in a sense. Navi's a bit tactless, and definitely a social butterfly (as far as I can see, anyway), and so Ivan is a tad more reserved and empathetic. While Navi offers more in the way of sage advice, like opening doors that don't have handles, Ivan prefers to help out more directly. That being said, he's still taking the place of Navi, and so he _does_ lose his patience every once in a while. And I agree that Zelda remembering would take away from the narrative. Thanks so much for the continued support!

**DISCLAIMER: Contrary to popular belief, I do not own **_**The Legend of Zelda**_**. I do, however, own a version of **_**Pong**_ **that I coded in Visual Basic. Now there's an accomplishment. Not to brag or anything.**

_Chapter IV: Caverns for Cravens_

The cracked wall exploded into a shower of rock shards, shaking the cavern and causing silt to come loose from the walls. Beyond the wall was the main hub of the Goron quarry, complete with a massive Dodongo skull staring at the entrance. It overlooked a pool of lava, in which three ascending and descending pillars sat, constantly raising and lowering. To each side were a vast array of cracked walls and entryways deeper into the dungeon.

Given that the interior of the Great Deku Tree was vastly different from the first time Link had gone through it, Link figured it was safe to assume that the Cavern would be similarly different. For one, there were no Beamos patrolling the room like there were last time, nor were there burning Keese flapping noisily overhead. The entire room was an eerie quiet, save the grinding noise of the pillars in the center of the room.

"Do not fall in that magma, leetle man," Ivan suggested, referring to the great pit of lava. "It's hot enough to melt your bones into soup."

Link rolled his eyes, but continued anyway, leaping onto a pillar and then off of it onto the small plateau. There was a Bomb Flower on it, which Link plucked a few seconds later. Immediately, the child sprinted towards the left raised area, aiming to blow up a cracked section of wall. However, the plan blew up in his face - quite literally - when the Bomb Flower exploded, throwing Link onto his backside. After a brief scolding from Ivan, Link picked himself up and realized that he couldn't get the Bomb Flower to that area in time. He then tried to climb up into another corridor, where a large chest sat, but he simply couldn't reach it with his tiny child arms. What he wouldn't give to be an adult again. Turning away, Link stalked back towards the main platform, picked another Bomb Flower, and once again dashed to his left, instead opting to destroy a different section of wall that was within reach. Inside the small inlet was a large chest, which contained a detailed map of the dungeon. So helpful.

"Maybe you can't do anything with the left side just yet," Ivan said. "Try the cracked walls on the right, maybe?"

Shrugging, Link waited until the column of rock was once again at the optimal height before grabbing the Bomb Flower and darting over to the right side, blowing up a section of wall to reveal… a Gossip Stone. Well, that was worthless.

"Well, there goes that idea," Link lamented.

"Hm… Ivan is not sure of what to do. There's a bombable wall out of reach and a locked door."

"We can't do anything about the wall, so we have to open that door, I guess," Link reasoned. "But how do we do that?"

Link started pacing around the platform, scanning the room for any eye switches that may be present. There weren't any, but Link did take note of two Business Scrubs nestled in the back corner of the main room, as well as two boulders. The large rocks were within the range of the Bomb Flower, and he did need to blow off some steam. Link picked the Bomb Flower and chucked it at the boulder to his right. The boulder exploded with the shrub, doing wonders for Link's stress levels but not helping at all with solving the dungeon. The other boulder yielded a gilded floor button, prompting Link to leap over to it and step on it, expecting the door to open.

It didn't. Instead, the pillar nearest to him suddenly shot upwards towards the upper echelons of the cavern with a loud grinding noise.

"Doesn't that invalidate the entirety of the dungeon?" Link thought aloud.

"Ivan doesn't know. You're the one who's done all of this before, leetle man," Ivan said wryly before adopting a pensive stance. "Wait. Ivan is taking the time to process all of the implications… you know everything that's going to happen before it does. How old are you again?"

"Ten… right?" He honestly didn't know anymore.

"No. You're seventeen. You are leetle man- adult mind in teeny body. You've seen the future! That explains everything! That explains why you're so obsessed with people 'remembering'! That's why you have all of these brilliant ideas! That's why you always seem to know exactly where you're going!"

"Yeah, but there's a lot different, too," Link said humbly. "Like, I didn't have a Stalfos hand when I first went on this quest. The entirety of the world is… mirrored, so what was left in my first adventure is right now, and vice versa. That, and the dungeons are completely different from when I first remembered them. They're much more complex and intricate than I remember them being."

"So… when it comes to temples, don't trust Link's memory. Noted," Ivan said.

"Shut up, Ivan," Link said affectionately, climbing onto the pillar as it ascended to the second floor of the dungeon.

**!0*0!**

To Link's dismay, a number of boulders stood between the small overhang and the rest of the dungeon, preventing the Hylian from progressing further. Not seeing anywhere else to go, Link carefully crossed a rickety wooden bridge, with two conveniently placed holes where the Dodongo skull's eyes were. On the other side of the bridge was another golden button, which Link stepped on until it was pressed down. He didn't hear or see anything happen, but something must have. Jumping down onto the dead Dodongo, Link noted that the sealed door was now unsealed, and there was a lit torch next to it. Descending onto the right cliffside, Link opened the door and stepped through it.

There was a great staircase flanked by a large number of Bomb Flowers, of which Link could only see part. He walked forwards out of the small hallway - and almost got his face burnt off by a Beamos. Link backpedaled out of the robot's range and grabbed an explosive flora from the base of the stairs before flinging it at the metal monstrosity, destroying it instantly. He then used another bomb to destroy a cracked wall, yielding another Bomb Flower, a Deku Baba, and a door. He couldn't grab the Flower because it was growing on the wall, just out of reach. Walking through the door revealed that the entire room was filled with Blocks of Time, which were immovable without the Song of Time, which Link couldn't remember.

Stalking back out of the small room, Link blew up the Beamos' again, only to realize that the second Beamos in the room had a Silver Rupee hiding under it. Back in his last adventure, he never saw a Silver Rupee until the Ice Cavern, so this was coming out of left field. Rolling into a wooden crate also revealed a Silver Rupee, maxing out Link's wallet at ninety-nine Rupees. But he couldn't do anything with those Rupees until he got up to the second level, which infuriated the boy. It was then that he noticed a lit torch, but that wouldn't help him… would it?

"Hm…" Ivan said thoughtfully. "Ivan thinks that if we blow up all of these Bomb Flowers at the same time, the supports on this structure will weaken to the point that it will start collapsing under its own weight, allowing leetle man to climb up to the next level."

"Yeah, I know," Link said mournfully, "but I can't blow them all up because I'd need another bomb, and I can't get any."

"There's a bomb flower on the wall," Ivan suggested.

"It's too high up," Link lamented. "Maybe I could use a Deku Stick as a lever of some kind…"

Needless to say, that didn't work.

"Try… poking it with a Deku Stick… that's on fire," Ivan said. "The fire will ignite the flower's fuse, forcing it to disconnect from the roots."

"That could work."

Link touched the stick to the lit torch long enough for it to catch fire before returning to the flower and poking it. Ivan's plan worked wonderfully, and the bomb detached itself and fell to the floor. Link picked it up and flung it onto the pedestal, where it exploded. The resulting blast set off a chain reaction that brought the stairs down.

"Ivan has the greatest ideas!" the sprite proclaimed.

Link rolled his eyes affectionately before slowly ascending the stairs. Some time later, he arrived at the very top and climbed onto a small darker stone. His balance was thrown off when the platform rose ten feet into the air and was met with a Business Scrub, which emerged from its flower and shot a Deku Seed at him. Link summoned his shield and reflected the shot, causing his magic to drop just a little bit more.

The Scrub was selling a Deku Shield for fifty Rupees. Link opened his wallet, remembering that he had maxed out his Rupees, and decided to buy it so that he could still use magic if need be. It might be useful.

Link turned back and rolled into more crates, revealing two more Silver Rupees. The last Silver Rupee was on a climbable vine wall, guarded by two Giant Skulltulas. They were easy enough to kill, and the instant the boy touched the last Rupee, the door opened.

**!0*0!**

The door shut behind him, and Link was greeted by three Dodongos stalking around a pillar. Dodongos had a thick hide, but they had a mental capacity vastly outshined by a dead Keese being cooked over a spit. Link approached slowly, his blade thrown out behind him, ready to attack. As he crept up on the bipedal lizard, he failed to notice that the room went dark, his Kokiri Sword lighting up the room with some ethereal light, first blue, then orange, until he felt the magical drain. Link turned and stared at his glowing blade, part in wonder, part in terror.

On the one hand, it meant with absolute certainty that the events of the last quest were real.

On the other hand, it meant with absolute certainty that the events of the last quest were real.

Struggling to ignore the ramifications, Link released the pent-up energy in his blade with a mighty roar, twirling in place as his sword spun about. The Dodongo that fell victim to the slash floundered about for a bit, flashing red periodically, before violently exploding, taking its two brethren with it. Goddesses, Dodongos were dumb.

As soon as the lizards had died, formerly locked doors opened again. Link's attention turned to the large chest that suddenly appeared in the back of the room. Hope surged through his being; maybe it was the absolutely necessary bomb bag!

Leveraging the chest open shattered Link's dreams, as it yielded only a Compass. Perfect. In his anger, Link shoved the chest onto its side, where it hung open pathetically. The Hylian turned in disgust and walked out the now open door, resisting the urge to take a sip of Lon Lon Milk.

Link was now back in the main room, on the second level. He crossed the rickety wooden bridge, leaping over the obnoxiously placed hole, and swiftly got to the other side. The room pulsed with heat, forcing sweat to drip down Link's nose. He took a moment to wipe it off before continuing.

Pushing forwards yielded a mazelike array of corridors and a lit torch on a platform. Climbing down a ladder revealed that there were three unlit torches stuck to the wall, out of reach of Link's Deku Stick.

Link also noted several cube-shaped stone blocks hidden in the hallways beyond. Perhaps if he put them below the torches, he could light a Deku Stick and transfer that flame to them, which would surely trigger something. Continuing onwards, Link grabbed a block and yanked it forwards, back to the leftmost torch. The other two blocks followed in a similar fashion, and soon, the torches were all situated underneath something.

Lighting the torches, Link heard the scraping noise of a door unlocking. Ascending onto a raised patch of earth, Link noticed that there wasn't a large chest on the other side like he remembered, but the door was now unlocked. He walked through the door, only for it to shut and lock behind him. There were six crates haphazardly strewn about the room, but Ivan fluttered up to the roof of the room for some reason. Following his movements proved to be important, as there were five Gohma Eggs attached to the ceiling.

"Damn, they're here too?" Link muttered, pulling out his slingshot and sniping the eggs before they could hatch while ignoring Ivan's subsequent chastising.

Anticlimactically, the door behind him reopened, but Link refused to leave before he destroyed all of the crates inside. He got a Golden Skulltula out of it, though, so it wasn't all bad.

**!0*0!**

Link exited the room and regressed back into the maze, pulling another stone cube out of the wall before climbing on top of it, reaching upwards towards a ladder that would lead him farther into the dungeon. Progressing forwards revealed two unlit torches, a giant Skulltula, and a large web that rendered the hall unpassable.

Stumped, Link turned around, only to notice that there was a lit torch on a raised platform. Grinning, the Hero pulled out a Deku Stick and ran towards the torch. He lit the stick on fire, ran back into the corridor, and ignited both torches and the web before chucking the Stick at the Skulltula, causing it to erupt in flames. Link stared at the burning corpse as some sort of sadistic glee bubbled up inside of him before shoving it back down, ashamed at the feeling.

The room beyond had a massive stone pillar situated on the raised platform that Link knew he had to jump on to get across the room. Surely there must be some way to remove the stone. Link was about to jump down to investigate, only to notice three Baby Dodongos shuffle out of the earth and wriggle around a bit before burrowing back into the ground of the Goron quarry. Link knew there was nothing he could do just standing here, so he jumped down, expecting a fight. The Dodongo children didn't resurface, though, so Link wandered around the bottom of the pit for a solid minute before noticing that he was an idiot.

There was a smaller stone block just sitting in the corner. Link jogged lightly over to it and pulled it forwards, always ready to let go and draw his blade in case the Baby Dodongos came back. They never did, and Link was able to drag the block all the way to the other side of the room. He jumped up on it and to the other side. Killing the two Giant Skulltulas and the small party of Keese that populated the hallway was no challenge now that Link knew he could use his Spin Attack. Lighting a Deku Stick on fire, Link ignited a Bomb Flower and blew up a cracked section of wall, yielding a door that he walked through.

The next room consisted of a multitude of tiny square platforms situated over a river of lava. For some reason, there were four pots scattered around the room, a wall of boulders that prevented Link from ignoring this section of the dungeon, and two Lizalfos that just dropped down from the ceiling. Slaughtering the foolish lizards was as easy as waiting for them to come to him and then proceeding to slice them into ribbons, although there was one point where the towering Lizalfos got too close and managed to get around his shield. Once the two were dead, the door forwards opened. Before continuing on, Link was sure to smash all the pots in the room, greedily consuming the tiny Green Potions that he received from them.

Continuing onwards revealed two platforms, each consumed by a column of fire. Climbing onto them would subject Link to serious burns, and he didn't feel like losing his new Deku Shield. He pondered what to do.

"There's a boulder in that corner and a switch in the other," Ivan noted, pointing to his left and then to his right.

"Ah. Thanks, Ivan", the Hylian said, taking out his slingshot and sniping the diamond-shaped switch. It activated with a resounding twang, and the first pillar of fire dissipated.

Jumping onto the column and turning to his left revealed absolutely nothing. For an instant, Link was confused, before remembering that left was right and right was left. He turned one hundred and eighty degrees, seeing a small inlet with a bomb flower and a Keese. Shooting the Keese with a Deku Seed, Link leapt into the little hole, plucked the bomb flower, and then hopped back into the main room, chucking it at the boulder and forcing it to explode. Under the rubble was a pristine golden switch. Stepping on it caused the second flame pillar to disappear, only for the first to reappear as the diamond switch expired.

Link climbed back up to the top of the room, activated the switch again, and then dashed over to the other side. Continuing down the hallway revealed that he was back in the maze room again, but this time on a higher platform. According to the compass, there was a chest to his right, but it only contained a small health potion. Rolling his eyes exasperatedly, Link crossed the room and sat down heavily, exhausted from the day's ordeal. If Ivan objected, he said nothing, merely watching as Link pulled out his ocarina and played Saria's Song.

**!0*0!**

The set of three boulders exploded with the Bomb Flower, leading Link back to the main hub of Dodongo's Cavern.

"What the hell? All of that was for nothing?" Link exclaimed furiously.

"We must have missed something," Ivan declared.

"Impossible," the Hylian refuted, seething. "What could we have missed?"

"Maybe there was something back in that room filled with magma. There was a section blocked off by boulders."

"I don't know. My intuition is telling me that it would be redundant."

"Well, what does leetle man suggest? You're the one who's done this all before," the fairy stated.

"For the last time, Ivan, the dungeons are way different this time around," Link drawled, approaching the plaque and sitting down, feet dangling over the edge. Even from here, the heat of the magma pool was enough to send rivulets of sweat cascading down Link's childish face.

Then he noticed something.

He was _awfully_ close to that cracked wall…

"Oh. I'm the idiot," Link grumbled, running back and picking up the bomb flower. Ignoring Ivan's questioning remarks, Link ran to the edge of the parapet and chucked the explosive flora as hard as he could. Unfortunately, it bounced off of one of the white stone protrusions in the wall - were those ribs? - and nearly collided with Ivan, who barely dodged the following blast. Apologizing to his fairy companion in advance, Link plucked the bomb again before leaping off of the ledge, ignoring the pain in his legs as he flung the bomb right towards the wall. The following explosion decimated the cracked wall, revealing a new passageway.

"One of these days, you're going to break your legs," Ivan grumbled.

"I'll be fine," Link placated, continuing forwards.

The area he had stumbled into was more wooded than previous areas; it was supported by various beams and scaffolding. There were also two oddly placed stone pillars. Stepping on one of them made a sound, but didn't cause anything else to happen. The other, however, rose several feet into the air when stepped on, leading to a Bomb Flower. Link picked the Bomb Flower from its roots, jumped off of the small ledge, and set it down gingerly next to a boulder before rolling out of range of the ensuing explosion. Underneath the rock was… another Bomb Flower. How helpful.

He also noticed a bombable section of wall to his left, but that wasn't important. After all, his Compass wasn't registering anything at all inside of that room, so there weren't any Bomb Bags. Instead, Link took note of the string of Bomb Flowers that grew up the wall and towards a boulder. He also noticed a pair of burning Keese patrolling the next area, which the boy shot down with his Slingshot after a few failed attempts. Then he picked the Bomb Flower and lobbed it over to just underneath the chain of flowers. The explosion set off a chain reaction that caused the boulder to disintegrate, revealing an eye switch that Link shot. A door off in the distance unlocked, and Link strolled over and walked through it.

He ended up in a tiny corridor with a door at the end of it. There was literally nothing inside. How boring. Link walked forwards, disregarding the Baby Dodongos that erupted from the ground as he walked by, and darted out of the corridor.

Now he was back in the magma room with the two Lizalfos, except he was on the bottom level this time. The air was stale and dry, and Link coughed to get the ash out of his lungs as the bipedal lizard warriors hopped over to him, swords gleaming. Fortunately, the armored lizards were no match for Link's admittedly rather dinky little dagger. Once the two were dead, the doors unlocked. The Hylian and his fairy wasted no time in getting out of that room, pushing ever deeper into the Goron mines.

The hallway he now found himself in was dark in comparison to the browns and reds of the rest of the dungeon. To his left, down another hallway, a locked door sat. How convenient. Further into the room, there were two chains of Bomb Flowers extending up into the ceiling, but they were awkwardly cut off by… graves attached to the walls, completely defying the laws of physics by just sitting there.

If Ivan was disconcerted by entering graves, imagine how angry he would be if Link blew one up! Pondering the dilemma, Link not only noticed another wall grave with a string of Bomb Flowers leading to it, but several floating lanterns that signified a Poe strewn about the cold, dank room.

"Ivan, please don't hate me," Link pleaded, picking a conspicuously placed Bomb Flower and lobbing it at the bottom of the chain. Its explosion caused a chain reaction, and the gravestone exploded. Behind Link, the door from earlier unlocked. But there wasn't anything inside, according to the Compass, so the child ignored it. The fairy, surprisingly, said nothing about this ridiculous chain of events.

Link returned to the beginning of the room to pick a Bomb Flower, only for it to explode in his face when he couldn't make it to the end of the hallway in time. He tried it again, but faster, only to have the same result. Grumbling, Link explored the room further, hoping to find something to aid him in blowing up poorly placed headstones.

Fortunately for the boy's sanity, another Bomb Flower was hiding underneath a Poe Lantern. Killing the Poe was simple enough, and soon the other gravestone blew up. This explosion also heralded the unlocking of the final door, allowing Link to continue pressing onwards.

Finally, Link was back in the central hallway. In front of him was a large chest that _had_ to have contained the Bomb Bag. With bated breath, he shoved the chest open, hopped over the edge of the container, and pulled out a Dodongo's stomach filled with twenty high-ordnance explosives. The Hylian smiled. He was going to have _fun_ with these.

**!0*0!**

After doing a little jig at his success, Link ascended the quarry and dropped two bombs into the Dodongo Skull's eye sockets. The explosions turned the eyes red, and when both were glowing a sinister crimson, the jaw of the beast swung downwards with a resounding boom, revealing a door etched into the skull's throat. Taking the pillar down at Ivan's behest, Link victoriously strolled into the head. He was mentally exhausted from his ordeal, but he refused to give up.

Having a Deku Shield back on his back felt so _good_. It was a return to form for the Hero of Time, and normalcy was something he desperately needed, no matter how infinitesimal the difference may have been.

Speaking of differences, there was no blue button in the small divot in the floor anymore. Instead, there was a gravestone situated smack-dab where the stone block had been last time and another passageway to his left. Since it was the only way to go, Link took the left hallway and ventured forth.

He was in a small, cramped corridor filled with soot and ash. Link sneezed before continuing onwards, grateful when the hallway opened up into a large room. On the floor below him were several Baby Dodongos, which writhed around like a bunch of degenerate worms. Slaughtering them was no issue. In the next part of the room, there were some gravestones and a Lizalfos that fell from the ceiling and tried to hack Link to bits. The Lizalfos, needless to say, got hacked to bits, although it did manage to leave a dent in Link's Deku Shield.

None of the three graves had anything underneath them, unfortunately, which was a problem, because there were several massive columns of fire blocking the way to the next path. Jumping over it wouldn't work; Link had tried that in the alternate timeline and only got a few burns for it. There weren't any eye switches in the room, either.

"Hey, Ivan?"

"Da?"

"Can you fly around and find anything that could turn off that fire?" Link asked.

"Easy. There is a diamond switch just behind the flames," Ivan revealed smugly. Indeed, there was such a switch where Ivan had indicated.

"Perfect!" Link exclaimed, climbing onto the nearest gravestone and attempting to shoot the switch with his slingshot. He wasted about seven bullets before realizing that he simply couldn't get the angle needed to hit the switch. So he tried a bomb instead. That did the trick, and with a resounding clang, the wall of fire disappeared. Reveling in his good luck, Link clambered on top of a small wall, jumped off, and rounded the corner to see an entire platoon of stone Armos guarding an entryway. All he had to do was push and pull the statues out of the way, such that he could slip by and get through the opening. Link confidently walked up to the stone statues, and grabbed at the first one he came to.

The statue suddenly shook and turned a brown matching the walls of the dungeon, startling Link into dropping his shield. In hindsight, he probably should have seen that coming. The live Armos took several hops towards the Hylian, making sure to crush his wooden shield into tiny, irreparable fragments.

"I spent fifty Rupees on that, you dumb fuck!" Link screeched, drawing a bomb from his bag and hurling it at the Armos' face. It blew up on contact, and the statue in question started spinning around like a top before exploding.

"Leetle man really needs to stop swearing before it becomes a habit," Ivan grumbled.

"Bit too late for that, Ivan," Link said dryly. "But if it makes you feel any better, I'm trying."

"That's all I can ask for," Ivan said reassuringly, perching himself on Link's shoulder and acting as an extra set of eyes. He was helpful in spotting the array of Bomb Flowers that approached the ceiling. Link chucked another bomb at the array, catching several Armos in the ensuing blast. The Armos then blew up, causing other Armos to awaken and blow up, which started its very own chain reaction that ended with all the statues exploding into smithereens.

Goddesses, that was satisfying.

If only he hadn't lost his shield on the way.

A set of ethereal stairs appeared in front of the passageway, allowing Link to press forwards. After collecting a Golden Skulltula hiding on top of a stone partition and catching a fairy in a bottle, Link pressed forwards to find himself in back in that room he had just left earlier, but on the upper section. He pulled back the gravestone, revealing a gilded button. Pressing the button caused the door to the Boss Room to unlock.

The Hero of Time let out a sigh of relief, happy that this was almost at an end. He leapt down into the area and through the door, as he was embraced by a stifling heat. Opening his canteen led to an explosion of water vapor in Link's face; evidently, his drinking water had all been boiled by the high heat of the room. Regardless, the boy downed what remained and bombed a cracked section of the floor. After raiding a small chest and refilling his Bombs, Link rappelled down the new hole in the floor until he couldn't anymore, dropping into the magma-filled final chamber.

**!0*0!**

A resounding boom emanated through the room, causing Link to jump. Another boom vibrated the floor itself, and Link turned to see a massive Dodongo - King Dodongo - rear up and roar right in Link's ears, accompanied by a blast of disgusting heat.

Link did the logical thing and ran like Farore from the primordial dragon, turning around after he had grabbed a Bomb Flower. The lizard opened its great maw as a massive fireball filled its mouth, begging to be released. Seeing an opportunity, Link threw the Bomb Flower into the Dodongo's mouth, which it stupidly swallowed before collapsing. The boy only managed to get one slice in before the dragon reared up again, curling into a ball and nearly squashing Link. The Hylian was able to avoid it by getting uncomfortably close to the lava, and as soon as the Dodongo rolled past, Link charged back towards the Bomb Flower, picking it and repeating the process. Once again, the moronic being ate the Bomb Flower, and fell to the floor, stunned. Link slashed at the dragon's head, but instead of diving out of the way of the following roll, he leapt onto King Dodongo's head, stabbing it through the eye with his Kokiri blade. The primordial dragon roared in agony, thrashing wildly in an effort to get the irritating fly off of its head, but in the process stumbled into the pool of magma in the center of the room. It sank deep into the molten rock, scales morphing into a charred black as King Dodongo breathed its last. Its death also conveniently drained the pool of magma, allowing Link to descend from the beast's skull and onto the not-scorched earth. Limbs shaking slightly, the Hero of Time stepped into the glowing blue circle and was transported to just outside the cavern.

**!0*0!**

Link took a deep breath, reveling in the fresh air finally filling his lungs. It was early morning, and a week and a half before Summer's Day. The birds were chirping joyously, as if to recognize his achievement. He turned around and noticed a swiftly growing shadow just inches in front of him. Reacting on instinct, Link summoned his Stalfos Shield and set his hand on his sheathed blade, only to relax when the shadow's owner turned out to be none other than Darunia.

"It's me, Darunia! Well done!" the Goron congratulated, beating his chest. He then proceeded to ruffle Link's hair incredibly forcefully as a terrifying grin formed on his stone features.

Oh, god. Link remembered this. Darunia was about to pat Link's head - and in the process, nearly crack his skull wide open. Days after the incident last time, Link had still been nursing a migraine, and having to carry Princess Ruto around did not help matters.

As soon as the warm rock hand left the top of Link's head, the youth moved. Resummoning his shield, Link threw up his shielded Stalfos hand in an effort to protect his cranium as the Goron's hand swung downwards.

At contact, Link's shield burst into a shower of pitch black diamonds, which soon dissipated completely. His magical energies had been completely drained by the shattering shield! Ridiculous!

Because his magic was gone, Link couldn't form another shield, and Darunia's next slap to the head drove the child about two feet into the ground. Head pounding viciously, Link dragged himself to his feet, clutching his skull in agony.

"Thanks to you, we can once again eat the delicious rocks from Dodongo's Cavern until our- hey, kid, you all right?"

"I'll be fine," Link assured. "I'll just have a headache."

"No, I'm not talking about that," Darunia clarified, mood swinging from ecstatic to worried in an instant. "I was talking about your hand - or… rather, ah… your lack of one."

Link froze, peeling his hand away from his temples and staring at the pathetic remains of his gloves. It was easy to see that his left hand had no skin on it and was comprised solely of bone.

"What happened? I've never seen anything like that," Darunia continued.

"You're also not from the forest," Link reminded. "The forest defends itself by draining the life out of anyone who isn't a Kokiri, turning them into these things called Stalfos. Basically, imagine a skeleton in armor with a giant sword and shield. I'm like… this… because I'm not actually a Kokiri, just a Hylian raised as one of them-"

"_Chto?_" Ivan interrupted, scandalized.

"Let me finish, okay?" Link commanded. "The only reason I haven't been completely Stalfosized is because I had the blessing of the Great Deku Tree. But when I turned ten, I guess that blessing expired, and I ended up with this. I was able to stop it from spreading, but there's no way to reverse it. So yeah, I've been like this for a while. Don't worry about it."

"You're telling me that even with all _that_, you still risked your life for us? Kid, I like you! You're nothing like that Gerudo thief, Ganondorf! He said, '_Give me the Spiritual Stone of Fire! Only then will I open the cave for you!_' He probably caused the Dodongos to appear in such great numbers, too!"

"Probably," Link agreed.

"How about you and I become Sworn Brothers?" Darunia asked. "No, there's no big ceremony involved. Just take this as a sign of our friendship!"

The Goron spread his arms as a great red light appeared. After a bit of time, the light dispersed to reveal the Goron Ruby, which slowly descended into Link's outstretched arms. He pocketed the Ruby, vowing to keep it safe.

"You'll keep brushing up on your skills as you travel, won't you?" Darunia asked.

"Of course," Link assured.

"You should visit the Great Fairy on top of Death Mountain, then! She will power you up! Hey, everybody! Let's see off our Brother!"

Before Link could react, two other Gorons dropped from the sky before uncurling, arms outstretched.

"You did great!" one chorused.

"How about a big Goron Hug, brother?" the other chirped.

Link stood for a second in indecisiveness before turning and sprinting up Death Mountain, hoarsely hollering for mercy.

**!0*0!**

**Well, there's that! Dodongo's Cavern down, just Jabu Jabu left to do! And dear god, I cannot WAIT for Jabu Jabu's Belly! For anyone who's played MQ, you know why.**

**Also, Jesus Christ, I'm just now realizing how much Link is swearing. I'll try to dial it down, I promise.**

**Love it? Hate it? Want to feed me to King Dodongo? Tell me in a review!**


	6. Chapter 5: Bargaining

**So, an astute number of you may have noticed that I've changed my name… again. I just think ChillifyVilify suits me very well, and Darth Furiz was a relic of the past that I wanted to cling to for a while. Fortunately, I'm past that now, and this new pen name is really great.**

**Anyway, I think Link is happy with Dodongo's Cavern, and we made a lot of progress with his grief over the course of the last few chapters. Let's see...**

**RRRP:**

_ChangelingRin: _Yeah, the 'one hand / other hand' thing is supposed to be the same all around. I didn't mean for it to be a joke, though; it's a good thing because it means that Link isn't senile, but it's a bad thing because it means that Zelda #1, who told Link that she and the other Sages would remember, was lying. This leads Link to believe that he was abandoned intentionally. Regarding the Deku Shield, they're made of bark. That stuff's pretty light, and I wager that Link's Stalfos Hand can support its weight, just not anything more than that.

Similarly, I can't wait to drop MQ Jabu Jabu. It's going to be… an experience.

**DISCLAIMER: If I owned The Legend Of Zelda, Nintendo would have filed for bankruptcy by now, and by extension, Smash Ultimate would not be a thing that exists. I'm sorry, but it's the truth.**

_Chapter V: Magic Nightmare_

The boulders exploded, allowing Link to climb higher up the side of the volcano. He leapt across the small canyon and hoisted himself onto the ledge, eagerly picking up the Red Rupee formerly tucked underneath the rock. Glancing inside of his bag, he idly noticed that he had nine Gold Skulltula tokens, and there was a tenth inside of the Death Mountain Crater. He relaxed, reassuring himself that everything would be okay.

"Leetle man?" Ivan said, shaking his partner out of his doldrums. "Ivan has a thought, but Ivan doesn't want you to get your hopes up too much."

"What is it?" the Hylian grumbled.

"Ivan thinks that maybe the Great Fairies have the power to restore everyone's memories," he said carefully.

It was like a ray of hope had shot through Link's entire being. He stopped slouching, finally, and felt a newfound power coursing through his veins. His eyes brightened, to the levels they were before he had been sent back by Zelda, and a genuine smile crossed his face for the first time since Ivan had met him. Even with orders not to get his hopes up, Link struggled to not anticipate the return of everyone's memories.

"What are we waiting for! Let's get going then!" Link said happily, sprinting further into the canyon.

"Link! Wait! You're approaching an active volcano! It might-" Ivan started, only for the aforementioned mountain to start spewing molten rock and flaming boulders, nearly hitting Link in his mad dash towards the volcano's peak.

It was at that moment that Link realized that he didn't have a Hylian Shield. And he was out of magic.

This couldn't end well.

A rush of adrenaline accompanied the realization, and Link found himself sprinting at full throttle towards the mountain, barely avoiding being scorched by the falling rocks. On occasion, a smaller one would hit him on the top of the head, but he ignored it. Ivan was by his side, screaming something at him- whatever it was, it wasn't important. A few minutes later, the onslaught of rocks and magma stalled, and Link found himself up against a rough wall infested with Skullwalltulas. Suddenly realizing what he had just done, Link plopped himself down heavily on the warm earth. He was suddenly exhausted from the exertion, and he spent a few minutes catching his breath and lamenting the loss of his water.

Link cricked his suddenly stiff neck before pulling out his Slingshot, letting it fly towards the nearest Skullwalltula. One fine hit sent it tumbling to the ground, instantly withering away and revealing one Rupee. Link took the Rupee and continued climbing, ignoring another Skullwalltula, which was Mind Hacked by Ivan when it tried to charge at Link. The Hero in question didn't even bat an eye, instead clambering up to the last small plateau and sniping the last Skullwalltula, letting it crash to the ground below. He took a second to play Zelda's Lullaby in front of a nearby Gossip Stone to lure out a fairy, which he used to heal himself entirely.

If Ivan objected, he didn't say anything.

Once his injuries had been taken care of, Link hauled himself up to the tippy-top of Death Mountain, ignoring Kaepora Gaebora's speech and jogging into the Crater, killing the Skulltula, and leaving again before blowing up an obvious cracked wall and walking inside.

Except for the fact that he didn't.

Instead of walking through the obviously empty hole in the mountain, Link met some sort of impassable force field right where the wall had been.

"Uh, Ivan? I did blow up the wall, right?" Link inquired. "I'm not going insane, am I?"

"Ivan is just as confused as you are," Ivan confirmed. "Ivan will go inside and check. Talk to the owl for a bit. Khorosho?"

"Okay," Link replied, squatting on the cool stones and listening to Kaepora Gaebora blab on and on about how Link didn't look much like the Hero. He knew! Could Rauru's reincarnation stop squawking his disapproval now?

A few minutes later, Ivan returned. "Prostite. The Great Fairy sensed your Stalfos hand and thought you were a malevolent being. Ivan has sorted it out, and you can go in now."

"Thanks, Ivan," Link said, practically glowing as he stepped into the now-unblocked tunnel.

Inside was a small stone passageway leading up to a large, water-filled basin. Link took the time to fill his canteen from the flowing water to either side of the stone. The Hylian had to admit, it was quite serene and calm in the Great Fairy Fountain… at least, when the Great Fairy herself was not visible. The Great Fairies were wild fay, wearing little more than vines, far too much makeup, and combat boots, they always stared at Link like he was a steak specially prepared for them to devour, and most importantly, they had possibly the most terrifying laugh he had ever heard. Ganondorf had _nothing_ on the Great Fairies sometimes.

Despite not really wanting to, Link pressed his wooden ocarina to his lips and played Zelda's Lullaby. The water cascading down the sides of the room, combined with the soft crackling of the two torches on either side of him, served as an oddly melodic accompaniment to the song. If Link could, he would have captured that sound in something and held onto it forever, just to hear the water and the fire and the ocarina again. Hell, it almost made him forget how much the song hurt him.

Almost.

With first a laugh, and then an even louder one, the Great Fairy burst from the water and perched herself in midair, staring down her obnoxiously long nose at Link from her lofty perspective.

"So you're the dark energy I sensed," the fairy hummed. "To be quite frank, I was expecting a little… more."

_Oh, and now _you're _sassing me? Holy shit, this is getting ridiculous, _Link thought.

"How did this come about?" she inquired, adopting a position of laying down in midair, her head supported by her hands.

"Blame the fact that the forest knows I'm an adult," Link grumbled. "Look, lady, I know you don't want me to be here, so can we cut the pleasantries and get down to business?"

"Leetle man should pay proper respect!" Ivan demanded in a whisper.

"Peace, Ivan. Link hit the nail right on the head," the Great Fairy stated rather drolly. "The dark energies in that hand of yours are an active detriment to the state of the Fountain. Therefore, I must insist that we get this out of the way. Normally, I would grant you the Spin Attack, but you already know the Goddess Spin from your last quest, don't you?"

Link froze, unable to comprehend what he was hearing. The Great Fairy remembered. She remembered everything. An unfathomable euphoria surged through his being as he realized that not all hope was lost. He could get it back. He _would _get it back.

"Y… you remember?" the child asked, doubting his every word.

The Great Fairy smiled in a mildly creepy fashion. "Of course. It wasn't that long ago. Five days, three months, seven years, four centuries… I'm not quite sure. Time flows strangely in the Fountains."

"Can you give everyone back their memories?" Link asked, praying silently that she would answer yes. Everything was almost over. "I'll do anything! Absolutely anything! Name something and it's yours! All yours! Some artifacts, another person, my gratitude, my items, my service, my l-"

"No, I cannot."

Link froze, undying thanks hanging on the edge of his lips. He said nothing, trying and failing to understand why, why, _why_.

"W… what? Why?" he finally choked. Ivan, sensing Link's distress, fluttered closer and perched his comforting weight on Link's left shoulder.

"Because the people you knew in that time are gone," the fairy explained. "Zelda is gone. Impa is gone. Groose is gone. Pipit is gone. They've been lost to time, but you have not. Their counterparts in this era are inexorably different from the ones you knew and loved. And you still have a job to do, Hero of the Sky."

Link wasn't really paying attention past 'lost to time'. "I don't care about Goose, I don't care about Pigeon!" he screamed, salty tears forming in the corners of his eyes. "I just want everyone to know what _I_ went through! What _I_ had to endure! What _I had to face because I lost _everything_, dammit!_"

"Oh, Link," Ivan said comfortingly, shuffling closer to Link's face. "Not everything has changed. You know what's coming, and you can stop it. Ivan has faith in you. Zelda has faith in you. Everyone has faith in you, regardless of whether or not they know it."

Link sniffled, wiping the tears away from his eyes, only for them to be replaced by new ones. He couldn't stop them from pouring out, no matter what he did. It was like all the pent-up numbness had been drained from his body, leaving only the raw, powerful emotion lurking beneath.

He nearly gave up. He almost did. There was nothing left. Everything he had fought for, every ounce of effort he had poured into saving his world, was for naught. What was the point of anything anymore?

The echoes of Link's sobs filled the Fairy's Fountain for who knows how long, and he didn't even notice that his magical energies were being replenished.

The Hylian came to the decision that he had to get away from everything for a while. He figured he earned the right to shirk some responsibility, what with everything he had been through over the course of his missions.

"I… I need to go…" Link stammered, backing out of the Fountain before breaking into a run.

"Wait!" the fairy's voice echoed. Link paused, turning back to the woman with tears in his eyes.

"I feel bad for sending you off without _anything_," the Great Fairy explained. "So I've given you normal magic as well as the dark magic you already possess. You should see my sisters scattered across the land. One of them is behind the dead end at Hyrule Castle. And I can point you in the direction of some dark magic users, who can maybe teach you how to harness that dark energy of yours in your hand. There's one behind a waterfall somewhere, although I can't remember where… Anyway, if ever your travels leave you weary, please come back and see me."

Without another word, the Fairy descended back into her fountain, ushering a serene darkness into the room. Link couldn't stand it, so he turned and stepped back into the light, hunched over like he weighed a thousand tons more than he had when he had stepped into the Fountain.

"Hoot, hoot!" Kaepora Gaebora hooted, evidently having waited the entire time for Link to step out again. It was evening, and the lights of Kakariko Village were beginning to illuminate, so far down the mountain. "Well, it looks like you've grown up a little from the Great Fairy's power…"

_Some power that was_, Link thought.

"But you still don't really look like the hero who will save Hyrule. At least, not yet!"

_Goddesses, could you shut up before you waste any more of my time? I don't feel like being insulted right now._

"If you are going back down the mountain, I can lend you a wing. Come here and grab my talons! And hold on tight! Hoot hoot!"

Link did as ordered, and soon the bird, child, and fairy were soaring on the cool dusk winds, back down to the warm stucco roofs of Kakariko Village. Hopping down from the roofs took minimal effort, and Link said hello to the cucco lady as he passed. He strolled into the House of the Skulltula, retrieved the Adult's Wallet, and then left as quickly as he came, leaving Kakariko Village at the stroke of eight o'clock. The sun had just dipped below the horizon, and several wolf howls could be heard echoing across the land.

He had to go back to Hyrule Castle to pick up Din's Fire, anyway. He could get a room at an inn or something, so long as he hid his hand.

**!0*0!**

Ivan had convinced Link to rest under a freshly slain Peahat. The Stalchildren stayed away from the flying creatures due to their sharp blades. The fairy was keeping watch, observing the vermillion horizon.

The Hylian, however, couldn't bring himself to slumber. He had taken to examining the razor-sharp edge of the Kokiri Sword and sharpening it even further with a nearby stone. Link couldn't find anything else to do save stare at the throbbing stars up above. Idly, he wondered if they had their own worlds, and someone else in a similar situation to his own. Then he scoffed at his naivete and rolled over, trying to find rest under the formerly living plant.

But he couldn't.

It made sense, really. He had just lost _everything_, after all. His entire world had just gone up in flames, and there was no chance of restoring it. The Hyrule he had sacrificed himself for had been stripped away, replaced by this _abomination _of a world. Link hated it. He loathed it all with a fiery passion, but the anger he felt was dwarfed by an overwhelming sense of sorrow.

_What's the point?_ He asked himself, not expecting an answer. _Why do I put myself through this? What's my end goal? Why do I even try anymore?_

"Because nobody else is going to, leetle man," Ivan said. "And our objective is to give this world a chance at peace."

Was he talking out loud? Suddenly, Link was embarrassed.

"Go to sleep, leetle man" Ivan ordered. "Goddesses know you need it."

With that, the fairy set himself back down on the cold, wet grass and stared out into the darkness of the night. The moon was exactly overhead, and its chilling luminescence spilled over the fairy and the man.

Link adjusted his tunic, laid back as much as he could, and tried his best to fall asleep. The scabbard of his Kokiri Sword dug into the small of his back, but he couldn't care less. If he didn't know any better, Link would almost say he enjoyed it.

**!0*0!**

It was mid-morning when Link got to Castle Town. He beelined for the castle itself, ignoring the maelstrom of Hylian denizens mobbing the central square. They were all doing their part in preparing for Summer's Day. A few Gorons had shown up too, selling bombs, heat-resistant red tunics, and red potions.

Din's Eye beat down on the boy, soaking him with sweat. It was a cloudless day, and the sky was an annoyingly bright blue. It was all the more hilarious, then, when the guards took no notice of Link's presence, instead opting to stare off into the distance whimsically. They didn't even react to the large explosion set off by Link's bomb, which destroyed the large boulder protecting the entrance to the Fairy Fountain. Crouching on all fours, Link crawled into the small hole and stepped into the Fountain. Or at least he would have, if the Great Fairy's boundary magic didn't prevent him. Just like before, though, Ivan's coercion eventually allowed Link to enter.

It was almost identical to the Fairy Fountain on Death Mountain, excluding the fact that the fires were green here instead of red. His legs felt like lead as Link trudged forward, knowing that meeting the next Fairy was something he _really_ didn't want to do. Ivan, at least, sensed his partner's discontentment and patted his shoulder affectionately.

Standing on the engraved Triforce, the Hero played that six-note song, bringing back biting memories of his Zelda's last goodbye. He fought off not only the urge to let salty tears fall down his face, but also the urge to stave off those tears with pain. It wasn't healthy, he told himself. It _wasn't_.

Right?

With a terrifying cackle, the Great Fairy launched herself into the air, only to recline herself on nothingness like it was some sort of couch. She was identical to the Mountain Fairy in every other way. Link despised it.

"Welcome, Link! I am a Great Fairy of Magic!" she boomed. Link felt particularly antsy, now that he wasn't blinded by the hope of bringing everyone back.

"I will give you a magic spell. Please take it," she continued, rotating in the air and channeling Light Energy. Soon, a large ball of burning crimson light appeared, hovering over Link before settling in his outstretched hands. The light dissipated, leaving a warm red orb encased in a transparent octahedron.

The Great Fairy began explaining the uses and effects of Din's Fire, but Link simply ignored it. Once her job was done, the Great Fairy regressed back into her fountain with a hair-curling laugh, leaving the room dark once more.

Link left as soon as the fairy disappeared. He couldn't bear the scenery any longer.

He left the way he came, going back into Hyrule Castle. It was high noon, and the central square had somehow become even _more _congested. Link had to avoid being crushed by people haggling over prices, carpenters carrying massive wooden beams, Gorons, some Cuccos, and much more. Eventually, Link fought his way towards the central fountain, desperate to find some breathing room.

Someone yelled his name from somewhere, and Link looked about, bewildered, until he noticed Malon and Talon standing not ten feet to his right. Rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, he apologized for missing them.

"No worries!" the ranch owner assured, guffawing.

They spent some time chatting before Link realized that he should probably get going to Zora's Domain. He only had a week before Summer's Day, and he needed time to tell Zelda he had gotten them all and hide them.

"I should probably get going. Someone wants to meet me near Kakariko," Link explained sheepishly. He figured that the excuse would be enough to not alarm the ranchers, but still give him time to do his quest-

"Oh, I see. We were just going to deliver some milk to Kakariko, as a matter of fact," Talon said, scratching his moustache pensively. "Want to tag along?"

He knew he shouldn't. He knew that Malon and Talon's kindness would be the death of him. He knew that if he accepted, he'd never want to leave.

"Sure, why not," Link agreed.

"Bol'shoy!" Ivan exclaimed.

Before Link could process what was happening, Malon had grabbed him by his cap and practically dragged him out of Castle Town in the most undignified manner possible. Talon shook his head and walked after her, chortling all the way.

**!0*0!**

They had boarded a cart. The road to Kakariko was old and beaten down, but it went by just swell. Link casually chatted with Talon regarding the state of Hyrule. The portly man seemed oddly confused by the fact that Link was so interested in how the world was doing. But that was understandable. He had no clue that Link was a man in a child's body.

The country had been doing better as of late, but it was still in shambles from the Unification War a decade prior. The price of bread had skyrocketed in recent years, and everyone was feeling the economic pressure, especially those who lived in the area that was once Catalia, which had taken up a region south of Lake Hylia but fought against greater Hyrule in the war itself. The crash had affected the neighboring Labrynna and Holodrum, but to lesser degrees than that of Hyrule. Catalia's assimilation into the Hyrulean halidom had deeply wounded almost the entirety of the Goddesses' creation, but they were on the road to recovery.

"Something feels wrong here," Ivan said tensely, breaking the silence.

"What's up, Ivan?" Link inquired.

"Ivan is not sure," the fairy said. "Remain on your guard,"

Link drew his blade in anticipation, trusting Ivan's judgement. He didn't notice how the farmers tensed up at the slithering noise of the tiny blade sliding out of its scabbard. He at least had the common sense to not summon his shield just yet.

An arrow whizzed past Link's head before impaling itself in the cart's wall just inches from the Hero's nose. Standing suddenly, Link jerked his head around, trying to find the idiots shooting at him.

"Get down!" he yelled, old instincts taking over. To his relief, at least Talon knew what to do; he dove into the cart and pressed his body as low as it could go. To his chagrin, Malon stood in shock, her vibrant red hair poking up from inside the cart. It was about as obvious as a target on the Gerudo Horseback Archery Training Grounds, and she was just begging for an arrow to be loosed into her brain. Careful to not crush any milk bottles underneath his boots, Link ran over to the ranch girl and shoved her down into her father's arms, summoning his shield again as another volley nailed the cart. His dark magic took a large hit. The situation was untenable, and Link knew it.

He ran back to the horses in the front of the car and coaxed them into a gallop, lugging Talon and Malon along with them to Kakariko Village, where they'd hopefully be safer. Meanwhile, the Hero leapt out of the cart and finally located the perpetrators; Two Hylian men, perched on a hill and seated on black horses, raining arrows down from afar.

"O Bogini," Ivan growled. "Raiders. Leetle man shouldn't engage with-"

"Screw that," Link vetoed. "I've been itching for some action."

With that, the Hero of Time sprinted forwards, towards the bandits. The Hylians in question smirked, drew their swords, and galloped forwards to meet the child.

Drawing the Slingshot, Link shot one of the horses right between its eyes. It didn't stop, nor lose the slightest bit of speed, but the blow was enough to disorient it. Another blow caused the beast to meander a bit. In that little bit of time, the raiders had nearly halved the distance between themselves and Link.

Ivan screamed at him to run away. Link didn't care.

A third shot caused the two horses to crash into each other; they fell to the earth wounded but not dead. The two raiders riding them somehow managed to land safely on the ground about fifty feet in front of Link, blades gleaming in the obnoxiously bright sunlight. They said nothing; they just looked at Link like he was some sort of pariah.

They were probably looking at his left hand.

Careful to make no noticeable movement, the child edged his right hand towards his pouch and tugged out a packet of Deku Nuts. He even dispelled his shield, just to lull the raiders' suspicions.

Sure enough, one of them started shuffling forwards, guard up. The other had drawn a bow and was pointing it at Link, threatening to shoot if the boy so much as twitched.

"Okay, here's the plan," Link whispered. "As soon as the Sword Guy is really close, I want you to Mind Hack him. I'm going to throw a Deku Nut and make a run for that Bow Guy. Stall Sword Guy for as long as possible. Okay?"

There was a short silence. "Ivan thinks you're _psikh_, leetle man," he eventually whispered back, "but da."

Sword Guy was almost to the point where Link could smell his breath. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he could see Talon and Malon watching him from the cart. Just a little longer -

A crimson Ivan suddenly darted into Sword Guy's brain, freezing him in place. Link took the respite to throw a Deku Nut at the ground, making his surroundings erupt into a blinding flash. The flash had the desired effect on Bow Guy, as the raider threw his hands in front of his eyes to block the sudden light. Link was already moving, sprinting towards Bow Guy with every ounce of energy contained in his lithe young body.

By the time Link had gotten within sword range, Bow Guy had recovered from the Deku Nut and was nocking an arrow. Link summoned his shield to deflect the arrow, which it did at the cost of dark magic. It gave the Hero enough time to finally close the distance between himself and Bow Guy, and before the Raider could get another shot off, Link had slashed his dagger across Bow Guy's chest. It didn't hurt Bow Guy due to his heavy armor, but it was enough to daze him. Dazing him was all he needed, however, as Link swung his blade into Bow Guy's weapon, snapping the bowstring with the edge of his sword and rendering the bow useless.

Ivan returned as soon as Bow Guy drew his blade, Sword Guy in hot pursuit. The Raider in question was screaming obscenities at the top of his lungs. Ivan gave Link a glance that screamed "Never repeat anything you just heard".

Link wasn't paying attention, however; he was too busy immolating the raiders with Din's Fire. The great orb of flame summoned by the child was enough to stave off Sword Guy, but Bow Guy got it worse; the fabric in his armor caught fire, causing immense pain. Link didn't feel bad; Bow Guy had almost killed him and the farmers.

Speaking of Malon and Talon, the cart was still there, but the ranchers were nowhere in sight. They had probably gotten to Kakariko, Link reasoned.

Bow Guy was screaming his lungs out in torment as the flames lapped at his exposed skin. A part of Link wanted to just kill Bow Guy and be done with it, but he decided against it. Partially because he wanted the Raider to suffer, but mostly because Sword Guy was right behind him, about to strike-

A spearhead suddenly protruded from Sword Guy's midsection, just as his blade started to descend on Link. The bandit stopped cartoonishly, slowly glanced down at the bloody spear piercing his abdomen, looked back at Link again, and promptly fell to the floor, dead.

The Kakariko Guard relaxed, dislodging his bloody lance from the Raider's gut. "You okay, kid?"

Breathlessly, Link nodded. Ivan accentuated this.

The guard walked over to Bow Guy, who had thankfully stopped being on fire, and ran him through without pomp or ceremony.

"Damn raiders," the guard grunted. "They've been getting worse ever since the Unification War. You might just be Mister Hero after all! Hah ha!

"But don't get too cocky, kid. Raiders always travel in packs, and there's bound to be more. No matter how well you did, that last fellow was about to cleave you through. Count your blessings for your old man; if he hadn't alerted the Guard to their presence, you'd probably be dead."

The guard ruffled Link's hair lightly, laughed to himself again, and walked back towards Kakariko Village. Link stood there for a few seconds, uncomprehending, before realizing that the Guard had mistaken Talon for Link's father.

"Leetle man did well," Ivan congratulated. "Ivan is always forgetting how much experience you have."

"Fat load of good it did me," Link grumbled. "I almost got gutted like a fish."

"Nonsense. Ivan would have alerted you," Ivan countered. "Leetle man needs to be less gloomy. Come. Let's go talk to Malon."

Link's features brightened slightly. "Okay."

Ivan snickered. Link couldn't fathom why.

**!0*0!**

Kakariko Village was calm by day and eerily quiet at night, but in the evening it was best described by "peaceful". Just like at other times of the day, it wasn't nearly as noisy as Castle Town or even some of the lesser towns, but it had a certain aura of balance, accentuated by the sun setting over the hill, that ushered in an ambience of serenity.

At least he wouldn't have to go down to the Bottom of the Well or the Shadow Temple again.

Right?

Malon and Talon were standing there by the gate, idly talking to the front guard, before they noticed their Fairy Boy trudge up the stone steps to the tiny village. The farmers immediately ceased their conversation and ran over to the child.

"You're not dead, Fairy Boy!" Malon exclaimed, throwing herself into Link's body and hugging him tightly, thrusting her face into the crook of his neck. She held this position for about a second before backing off and slapping Link across the right cheek before backhand slapping him across the left.

"You're an idiot, Fairy Boy!" she then hollered, glaring at Link with daggers in her eyes. Ivan was laughing hysterically somewhere a few meters behind Link. The Hylian in question took a step back, arms held up in surrender.

He wasn't prepared, then, for the ranch girl to hug him again, adopting the exact same position as before. "Thank you, Fairy Boy."

"Uh…" Link responded dumbly. "My name isn't Fairy Boy… it's Link…"

Malon was silent for a second. "Thank you, Link," she said quietly, pulling back.

Was his face flushed? He hoped not. He did find Malon's boundless positivity infectious…

"Alright, alright, enough of that," Talon finally interrupted, chuckling. "You're going to scare him off if you keep this up."

"Daddy, stop!" his daughter complained.

Ivan, meanwhile, had recovered from his laughing fit and darted back under Link's hat.

"And my boy," the ranch owner said, sauntering up to Link and throwing his heavy arm around the child. "I would also like to give you my thanks for fighting off those raiders. There aren't very many magic users left after the Unification War, and call me crazy, but I'm pretty sure summoning a shield and an inferno counts as magic. The very least I could do is offer you a night at the Ranch sometime. Sound good?"

Link grinned slightly. "I think I'd like that. But not right now. I have to meet with someone. Maybe in a few days, okay?"

The rancher grinned. "We'll be expecting you."

_Expecting you._ Nobody expected him, even when he expected them. For once, he could live with being expected.

**Remember when I said "Let's hope it continues" back at the beginning of the chapter? I really meant "Let's take that away from him, shall we?"**

**In other news, I'm changing the upload time from Friday mornings (7:00 AM EST) to Thursday nights (8:00 PM EST). It's just more convenient for me.**

**So yeah, that was chapter 5. Chapter 6 will be MQ Jabu Jabu, and that's going to be so much fun to write. Really, you all have no idea. **

**NOOTTD: **

**1\. The Great Fairies don't remember the events of Link's first adventure. They think he's talking about being the Link from Skyward Sword and stuff, hence Groose and Pipit.**

**2\. The Raiders are an original creation. It seems logical; it's a medieval world, and there was just a war. That makes sense, right?**

**Like it? Hate it? Want to raid me? Leave a review!**


	7. Chapter 6: Completely In-Cow-herent

**Welp. Let me tell ya, I had a blast writing this one. MQ Jabu Jabu, let's go!**

**In other news, I have recently made an AO3 account and am currently crossposting this fic over there, because I got a tip from Lonestar6 saying that more people go there now. It's totally synchronized, by which I mean I dumped all seven chapters there at once and prayed for the best. RRRP will include reviews from both and AO3.**

**RRRP:**

_ChangelingRin: _Don't worry. I can assure you that Link isn't planning to commit suicide. And I think Link's more of a dog person than a cat person, given how he's constantly running around Hyrule doing stuff. Besides, if Link had a cat, they'd eat the fish before Jabu-Jabu could.

_A Decent Person:_ Hoo boy, our first flame! I laughed for about fifteen minutes while reading this just because you described Link as a 'fucking edgelord crybaby'. I have no sense of humor. The reason it's so angsty is, to quote Thomas Fuller, "the darkest hour is just before the dawn", or something like that. Thanks for telling me that Ivan is cool!

_Guest: _It most certainly IS a fanfic. You're probably getting Acheronta Movebo vibes because that was the single largest inspiration for this fic. (ChangelingRin also inspired me, but that was more to post on the site. Still, though, Dimensional Links was a big deal.) Thanks for the feedback!

**DISCLAIMER: If I owned the Legend of Zelda, the community would want me dead more than they already do. Therefore, I don't own LOZ.**

_Chapter VI: Cow-tastrophically Unusual Troubles_

The waterfall split in two, revealing the entryway into Zora's Domain. Link silently thanked the Goddesses for ocarinas. The roaring of water particles ramming themselves into the smooth riverbed below him drowned out all of Link's thoughts, nearly making him miss the jump into the aquatic people's homeland.

The Domain was comfortable and pristine, filled with warm, fresh water and another roaring waterfall. Hadn't the Great Fairy said a Dark Mage was located behind a waterfall somewhere?

It was probably a good idea to check, but he would have to come back down later for a fish and to Rapid Transit to Lake Hylia, so doing it later would be most efficient. Right now he had to go chat with King Zora XVI… XIV… whatever, it wasn't important. Link jogged forwards on autopilot before proceeding to walk straight off of the stone ledge and into the water below, still thrown off by the mirrored world. Although particularly mortified, Link took the opportunity to catch a fish in a bottle before making his way back to the walkway.

"Now, Ivan would like to remind you that you are about to meet a king. You will refer to King Zora in the _proper_ manner. Am I understood?" Ivan said forcefully.

"Yeah, yeah," Link replied flippantly, climbing a steep set of stairs.

The rotund royal was muttering something along the lines of "my poor, dear, sweet Ruto… where are you?"

_Sweet Ruto,_ Link thought cynically, resisting the urge to scoff. _There's a juxtaposition if I ever heard one…_

Given his child status, Link knew that it would be futile to ask the King to let him into Lord Jabu-Jabu without that letter that was currently stuck at the bottom of Lake Hylia. And he couldn't get to the bottom of Lake Hylia without the Silver Scale, for which he would need to play the Diving Game for. Thank the Goddesses he was wearing his waterproof tunic.

_But I can do the Diving Game any old time,_ Link reasoned. _I should check behind the waterfall first._

With a goal set, Link ventured behind the waterfall to find… two torches. Link shivered, feeling oddly cold. Lighting the torches with Din's Fire did absolutely nothing, which made Link particularly angry. None of the walls were particularly vulnerable to explosions, either; the Hero was at a loss. Dejected, Link walked back up to the King's chambers, only to pass a few more unlit torches on the way.

"Maybe you have to ignite all of the torches, and not just those two behind the falls," Ivan postulated.

It was worth a shot, so Link pulled out a Deku Stick and lit it on fire in the nearby brazier before dashing down the steep stone stairs and lighting another torch. Swiftly, Link put the torch out before lighting it again, sprinting through Zora's Domain and lighting every torch he saw. Eventually, he got back to behind the waterfall again. This time, lighting the two torches caused a tiny section of the wall to slide open, allowing the child Link to crawl inside.

The small cave Link found himself in was filled with an unnatural light, as fiery red illumination licked at the walls of the cavern. The tingling sensation in his left arm that Link had long since grown used to crescendoed with the dancing flames.

"Ivan does not feel comfortable here," his partner informed.

"It's a bit unnerving," Link agreed, "but so are the Great Fairies, if we're being completely honest."

"Nonsense!" Ivan replied.

The walls of the cave were filled with a bizarre assortion of strange objects. Link could see a glass of Blue Fire, a Gohma eye, some confectioner's sugar, the head of a Gibdo that Link was half-convinced was still alive, more Tektike legs than he could count, a shark's brain, several blue potions, an elder wand, a broomstick, a jar of multicolored eyeballs, some vanilla extract, half of a Like Like, exactly eighty-seven blood-soaked walnuts, a violet potion, three Cucco eggs, a tuft of white Dinolfos hair, a Magic Bean, and a vial of condensed milk. And those were just the things that Link could identify at a glance.

There was also a black-scaled Zora with his back to Link, observing a great pot of something as it bubbled malevolently. It spewed noxious fumes into the dry air of the cave, but the Zora Dark Mage seemed to not care.

"There is something here," the mage muttered maniacally. "A dark energy of a sort I have yet to sense… How very… interesting…"

The aquatic being suddenly twisted his head one hundred and eighty degrees, revealing deformed features and piercingly yellow eyes. "Can I dissect you?" he asked Link, in a pale imitation of politeness.

"Uh, how about no?" the child shot back.

Suddenly, the Zora was brandishing a wand that was glowing with dark energy. "Then you are of no use to me!" the mage roared, chuckling madly as he released the spell in the form of a dark blast.

Link summoned his shield, slapping the magic beam away. The shield then promptly exploded into a shower of black diamonds, taking all of his dark energy with it.

The dark magician was staring at Link with some sort of insane scrutiny, slowly sashaying forwards from behind his cauldron, thankfully stowing his wand away. Link took a step back, unsure of what was going on.

"Unstable dark energy, to be sure," the Zora mumbled. "It needs proper… _channeling_."

"Then teach me," Link demanded calmly.

The Zora's gaze instantly shifted from Link's Stalfos hand to his face. His expression said it all.

"I can already summon a Stalfos shield no problem," Link explained. "But I still need to learn to channel my dark magic in more ways. That's the main reason why I came here in the first place."

"And _how_," the Zora inquired, dangerously calm, "did you happen to _find_ this base of operations in the first place? I was quite sure my wards would prevent even the most powerful mages from finding me…"

"I got directions from the Great Fairy up on Death Mountain," Link explained casually.

"Ah, yes, that would explain it. Nasty folk, fairies," he continued. "Always ruining my fun."

Ivan, taking the hint, hid under Link's hat before the Zora could see or fully take note of him.

"But," the magician continued in a completely different tone, "If the fairy folk wish you to learn from me, then I don't really have a say in the matter. Fairies have a tendency to be so asinine when you don't do what they want, when they want. But I want _payment_ for it."

"Name your price," the Hylian replied.

The dark mage chortled. "Cute. I want the rib of a Redead twice slain. Or just eighty Rupees. Do you know how expensive upkeep is? Every time one of my experiments breaks out of containment, they smash a giant hole in the wall! And King Zora won't even pay insurance for it!"

Link grabbed his Wallet, examining its contents before remembering that he had picked up a Huge Rupee from below a tree in Kakariko. Tugging the massive piece of currency out of his pocket proved to be more difficult than he anticipated, but Link eventually got it out.

"Do you have change?" The Hylian asked hopefully.

All he got was a curt "No!" as the mage snatched the giant Rupee out of Link's hands.

"Now, dark magic is a very volatile sort of magic," the Zora began. "It's like bartering for the right to use a spell, but instead of Rupees, one uses life force. Normally, one can negotiate with the pain the spell will inflict, but that sort of dark magic won't work with your… predicament.

"Therefore, any dark magic you wield cannot directly harm whatever it is you're fighting, and by proxy, must draw its energy from your own life force. Understood?"

"Yes," Link began, "bu-"

"So, you must either do harm to yourself or be harmed by someone else in order to cast dark magic, correct?"

"I mean, okay, but-"

"Therefore, we can only work on techniques that satisfy either of these requirements-"

"But what about my shield? I'm not always taking pain with that, am I?" Link finally got out.

If the Zora heard him, he disregarded the boy entirely. "One example of this would be the Mortal Draw, but that is far too advanced for a child such as you. So you'll be learning something a bit more basic. Now. Slap me."

"What?"

"You heard me, child. Slap me."

Doing as ordered, Link walked up to the Zora and swung his open hand towards the dark mage. He didn't expect to actually hit the Zora, but neither did he expect what happened next. He watched in horror as the mage was thrown back a half-step before melting into the floor and disappearing. Link felt a cold, slimy finger tap him on the shoulder, causing the boy to whirl around, seeing the Mage smiling at him with a toothy grin.

"That is what you will learn," the Zora explained. "The Backapparate!"

Link swore to _never_ use that name.

"So how do I do it?" he asked.

**!0*0!**

"There's another six hours of my life I'll never get back," Link grumbled.

It had taken him nearly half a day to finally learn the Backapparate, and it involved at least a thousand stinging slaps to the face. It would have taken so much less time to learn had the ability not required perfect timing to pull off. Thank the Goddesses his dark magic slowly replenished with time due to his Stalfos Hand, or the Hero wouldn't have lasted half as long.

Oh, and the dark mage's name was Nierak. Good to know.

He had picked up the Silver Scale from the Diving Mini-Game, which wasn't all that hard if one disregarded the fact that Nierak had taken all of his Rupees. Now, armed with a Zora swimming scale, Link could dive through a tunnel that would take him all the way across the country to Lake Hylia in a matter of seconds. If only people could harness that sort of power without the Ocarina of Time.

Soon, Link surfaced in the warm, fresh waters of Lake Hylia, taking the opportunity to slake his omnipresent thirst and to refill his canteen. He ignored the handful of Zoras relaxing in the water and snatched the obvious, gleaming bottle stuck in the mud at the bottom of the body of water. As soon as it was out of the water, Ivan stole the bottle from Link, opened it, and unfurled the letter inside, perusing its contents.

"Ivan would tell you what's on the letter, but you know it already, Ivan assumes," Ivan mentioned. "The Zora Princess is inside Lord Jabu-Jabu, the Zora guardian god."

"Yup. Her name is Ruto, and she wants to marry me," Link admitted sheepishly, garnering odd glances from the nearby Zoras. "Hopefully we can avoid that."

Ivan started chortling. "Now there's a thought."

Link swam to the surf of the Lake and stepped out, absolutely sopping wet. He shivered as the water evaporated in the warm sun. It was a cloudless day, and a flock of geese had taken up residence in the shallower sections of the lake, their cacophonous cries echoing across the water. The Hero ignored them entirely, instead pulling out his Ocarina in front of Bonooru the scarecrow.

"Whoa! You have an ocarina!" the scarecrow suddenly said, as if it had never seen an ocarina before. "Hey, why don't you lay a tune on me with it, baby?"

"Wait, so Ivan cannot call you baby, but a random scarecrow can?" Ivan interjected, faux hurt.

"That's just Bonooru," Link explained. "You get used to it."

Link played a tune he knew he'd remember. He ended up playing a simple nine-note melody that vaguely reminded him of a black suit and a red blade.

"Well, not bad! I'll remember it for you anyway! I don't mean that I can only remember nine notes, but let's just cut it right there for now, baby?"

"Okay," Link said, already diving back into the Rapid Transit to Zora's Domain.

**!0*0!**

"Ho, this letter! It's from Princess Ruto!" King Zora exclaimed, stating the obvious. "Hmm… let's see… She's inside Lord Jabu-Jabu? That's not possible!"

"Well, I mean, I didn't write the Goddess damned letter, so…" Link stated.

Ivan appeared flummoxed. "Leetle man, you really need to work on how you address royalty."

"Our guardian god, Lord Jabu-Jabu, would never eat my dear, sweet, innocent Princess Ruto!" the fat fish continued, ignoring the pair in front of him. "But since that stranger, Ganondorf, came here, Lord Jabu-Jabu has been a little green around the gills…

"The evidence seems clear. Of course, you'll find Princess Ruto. You can pass through here to the altar of Lord Jabu-Jabu. I'll take the letter; you may keep the bottle it was in. Take it respectfully!"

_Dear Goddesses, this guy changes his mood almost as fast as Ruto,_ Link thought. _Like father, like daughter, I guess._

The Zora monarch started awkwardly shuffling to Link's right, making an extremely irritating beeping noise with each movement. Link would have moved past the king minutes ago had Ivan not Mind Hacked him into standing still, saying it was "only proper" to let the king finish.

About three uneventful life-ages of the earth later, the King had finally stopped shuffling and Ivan unleashed his partner from his mind control. Link immediately dashed to his left and up a slope, past King Zora and into Lord Jabu-Jabu's fountain. He knew that he could grab Farore's Wind from the nearby Fairy Fountain, but he _really_ didn't feel like rubbing more salt into that still-festering wound, and the spell wasn't that important, anyway. He could skip it.

Link jogged onto the carved dais where the giant fish god languished. The massive thing snorted at him through his nostrils, eyes struggling to lock onto the new arrival from either side of its head. He knew what to do, fortunately; the Hero yanked out the jar containing the fish from his pack and dumped it out in front of Lord Jabu-Jabu. It flopped about like it was having a seizure. The fish god blinked once. Then again. Silence.

Then Lord Jabu-Jabu opened his great maw, inhaling with a great amount of force. The fish was sucked into the mouth, and Link, too, found himself picked up by the powerful wind and eaten alive. He gave one last look at the outside world before the jaws snapped shut, sealing Link inside.

The first thing he heard was the heavy breathing of the fish god, hot air coursing around him. The second thing he heard was the squishing of several Bubbles that must have been bouncing about the room behind him. The third thing he heard, however, easily took the cake for the weirdest thing he'd seen- heard?- in this mirrored world.

"Moo!"

Link turned around slowly and noticed that there were two _cows_ stuck inside the flesh of Lord Jabu-Jabu's mouth, one on either side. There were also three Bubbles, two pots, two ferns, and a large boulder, but this came secondary to the pair of living livestock fused to the walls.

"Is there something… unusual here?" Ivan asked.

"Gee, I don't know," Link replied sarcastically. "Maybe it's the fucking cows stuck in the goddamn walls?"

"Leetle man ought to watch his language," the fairy grumbled.

"Whatever," the Hero of Time grunted before drawing his blade and charging in, also summoning his shield when an Octorok appeared. Reflecting the rock back at the Octorok made it die, and the Bubbles were easy enough to kill with just his sword. The cows kept mooing, throwing off Link's concentration.

"Shut up!" Link yelled at the cows. If anything, this only made them moo louder.

Rolling his eyes in pure, unadulterated exasperation, Link turned his attention to the large boulder in the center of the room. If he squinted, he could see that it was covering a large, cream-colored bulbous growth which could probably be pressed down. So he retrieved a bomb from his sack and lobbed it in the boulder's general direction. It worked, and the boulder was reduced to smithereens.

Link, meanwhile, stepped on the button, hoping that it would remove the algae-esque growth blocking a sphincter into the rest of Jabu-Jabu. He was severely let down when a large chest materialized out of nowhere. Praying that it would be the Boomerang, Link's hopes were dashed once again when he opened the chest to reveal a Dungeon Map.

"So what am I supposed to do?" Link thought aloud. "There's nothing here except some ferns, those pots I already broke, and the cows stuck in the wall."

"Moo!"

"_Stop doing that_" Link roared, nearing the end of his sanity.

"Moo!"

"Okay, that's it," Link stated murderously, pulling out his slingshot and aiming at the cow on the left. He aimed carefully, then fired, hitting the livestock dead between the eyes.

A chest appeared to his left. Link stared at it. Then back at the cow. Then back at the chest. Then at the button. Then at the other cow. Then back at the chest.

Opening the chest revealed some Deku Nuts.

"Ivan told you there was something unusual here!" Ivan proclaimed.

"So it's not the cows that are unusual, but rather the fact that I need to shoot said cows?" Link asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Da!" Ivan responded happily, like it made perfect sense.

The Hero grumbled something incoherent under his breath before shooting the cow on his right. The sphincter became unblocked, just like that, allowing Link to proceed.

"I think the less I question it, the better," the Hylian decided, progressing further into the fish god's body.

The next room had two electrified jellyfish, a platform that raised and lowered in a way that defied gravity, three thrashing electrified somethings blocking Link's path to the door, which was locked, and of course, a cow stuck in the wall. Turning to his left revealed a red tentacle blocking the path. Shooting the cow did nothing except make a small chest appear in an area he couldn't access.

Link could see no options save going down, so he jumped onto the floating platform and descended, avoiding the jellyfish as the slowly floated towards him.

The second level was filled with Lord Jabu-Jabu's interior liquids, as well as a door blocked by a massive watery outburst that rendered Link soaked. There was also a chest that revealed another Deku Nut, a Stinger that Link killed, and a cow sitting in the midst of all the brine that Link assumed he had to shoot. It didn't do anything.

"What are we supposed to do? There's no switches or anything… Ivan? Can you take a look in that water and see if there's anything down there? I can't see through it very well because it's pretty murky."

"Okay," Ivan agreed before darting down into the watery depths. He returned a few minutes later.

"See where that cow is? There's another small area down by there that has a large chest and a button. But you'll have to dive to get into it."

"Thanks, Ivan," Link thanked before jumping into the cold liquid. The chest had the Compass and the button did… something. Link wasn't quite sure. Hopefully it would open a door or something.

Back on the top level, Link found that the door onwards was, in fact, open. Link stepped through it… only to end up back in the first room. Realizing his mistake, Link turned one hundred and eighty degrees before going the other way, deeper into the bowels of Lord Jabu-Jabu.

The next room had several holes, an electrified jellyfish, two boulders, and muffled mooing. Link looked about a bit before noticing a young Zora staring back at him. It was Ruto, obviously. The Hero jogged up to her, opening his mouth to speak before being cut off.

"You! Who are you! I am Ruto, Princess of the Zoras," she started in an objectively obnoxious tone.

"I'm Link, and I'm here to get you out of here," he started before being cut off again.

"What?! Are you saying my father asked you to come here and… _save _me? Preposterous! I'd never ask anyone to do such a thing!"

"No, honestly. I'm here for an altogether different reason," Link explained. "You see, there was this letter-"

"'Letter in a bottle'? I have no idea what you're talking about? Ruto interjected hotly. "Daddy's worried about me? I don't care!"

"See what I mean, Ivan? She's a brat," Link whispered to his partner. Ivan didn't comment.

"Anyway, I can't go home right now. And you… get out of here! Understand?"

"Make me," Link growled, crossing his arms before remembering his Stalfos hand and instead clasping them behind his back.

"Ugh, whatever," Ruto snarled, turning on her heel and sashaying off… directly towards one of the blatantly obvious holes.

"Wait! There's a-" Link started before an electric jellyfish collided with his midsection. Link squealed in agony as the electricity coursed through his body. Unfortunately, he also wasn't able to warn Ruto of the upcoming hole, and she promptly fell right into it.

"Oooooh nooooooo!" she shrieked as she fell into the abyss.

"How did you miss that!" Link yelled down, trying and failing to contain his sudden mirth. "It was right in front of you!"

"Shut up!" Ruto's voice emanated from the lower level. "You could have warned me!"

"I tried to! But I got electrocuted by a goddess-damned jellyfish!"

Link backflipped into the hole after her, landing safely on his feet. She was glaring at him ferociously, and a part of Link was terrified.

Not much, though.

"Why are you still hanging around here! I told you to go away!" Ruto demanded.

"Well, we don't always get what we want," Link replied, admittedly a bit too snarkily.

"I'm fine. I've been inside of Lord Jabu-Jabu since I was little, but… Lord Jabu-Jabu is rather strange today…"

"Gee, what clued you in? Was it the fucking _cows embedded in the walls?_"

"Moo!"

"Language! Ivan grumbled.

"Right, sorry," Link apologized.

"And on top of that, my precious stone was… But… that's none of your business! Go home now! Understand?"

"Make me," the Hylian said seriously, pulling out his best no-nonsense face.

"You're that worried about me?" Ruto asked, rolling her eyes. "Then I will give you the honor of carrying me! But I won't leave until I've found the thing I'm looking for. You'd better believe me!"

"Yeah, I get it! No need to be so... hostile!" Link said, barely managing to not swear.

The Zora princess then proceeded to sit down, cross-legged, on the small raised section and looked at Link expectantly. The Hylian in question proceeded to disregard her entirely, instead opting to pop a Bubble and whack a jellyfish with a Deku Stick before stepping onto another fleshy outgrowth. The button caused a massive stream of water to erupt just below it, pushing Link up into the air. It created a solid enough platform to support his weight and then some.

So Link jumped off the water pillar, picked up Ruto, and then jumped back on before immediately jumping off onto another raised platform. He then set Ruto down on a blue button. This button caused the door back on the first raised platform to unlock, but Link wasn't done in this room just yet. Shooting the two cows stuck in the walls caused two small chests to drop down into the room. They contained ten Bombchus and some Deku Nuts. Seeing that the other points of egress were blocked by a red and green tentacle, Link opted to go through the now-unlocked door.

"Ruto! I need you to stay on that button, okay! Don't move!" Link hollered before the door shut behind him. Evidently, the Zora had disregarded his orders entirely, as he heard the telltale noise of the door locking behind him.

**!0*0!**

Link walked down the narrow passageway before him. Before the boy could even react, a Lizalfos dropped down from the sky and hacked at the Hero. The first hit connected, making Link stagger. But the Hero could take the opportunity to stab at the Lizalfos' unprotected midsection. He scored a hit, but the lizard leapt behind the Hero and swung its sword at him again. Link let the hit connect, and then Backapparated behind the Lizalfos and sawed its head clean off. The body thrashed about before collapsing, dead.

Link bent over, hands on his knees, and took a few heavy breaths. Hands shaking, the Hero of Time pulled out his container of Lon Lon Milk and slowly savored half of it, replenishing Link's health back to its maximum.

The next room Link found himself in consisted of two plateaus and a basin of internal liquids. There was also a Block of Time, a Like-Like, several Stingers, and a giant water pillar blocking the path onwards. So Link dropped some bombs down the Like-Like's gullet a la King Dodongo before dropping down himself and slaughtering the Stingers with his Slingshot. Now that the disgusting noises of the creatures were no longer present, Link could make out the sound of a Skulltula somewhere. It was probably underneath the Block of Time, and thus pointless to worry about.

Stepping on a switch in the middle of the basin caused the brine to start swelling underneath Link. Soon the level rose to over Link's head, and Link swiftly swam over to the white outgrowth on the side of the room and clambered up it, noticing a large chest where the water spout was before. Giddy, Link opened the chest to reveal a lovely boomerang, with a large red crystal binding the two edges to each other.

"Finally," Link grumbled good-naturedly before leaping off of the small alcove, landing safely on the other side with a forward somersault. The next hallway had nothing in it,and walking through the next sphincter only led back to the lower level of the second room. He took the flying platform back up to the room with all the holes in it. Link killed the two jellyfish in the room before turning his attention to the locked door ahead of him, leading to the tail area of the fish god. He also noticed several boulders, and figured that there must be a cow stuck behind one of them. Bombs yielded pots and ferns, but the muffled mooing was still omnipresent. The walls slowly convulsed around Link, but he ignored it.

He looked about, confounded, but didn't see anything. Ivan, however, did.

"Leetle man, look!" he stated, flitting over to a set of boulders stuck to the wall right by the entrance. "Try this!"

Link pulled out a Bombchu and gingerly set it down in front of him, watching as it sped forwards and blew up the boulders. Behind the rocks was a cow, which mooed in delight.

"Shut up, cow," Link hissed, shooting the cow with his slingshot. This prompted the door on the other side to unlock. The Hylian then proceeded to walk through the door after stunning the electric tentacle blocking the path.

**!0*0!**

The next room split into three different passageways. The one straight ahead had several boulders blocking the path. Link randomly decided to go left, then taking a right into an open doorway. The sphincter sealed itself behind Link, startling the child regardless of how many times it had happened before. The chamber in front of him had a fern in the center, a torch tucked away by the locked door, and two cows on either side of the room. Shooting them did nothing save spew a few Fairies out of the walls, which Link moved to catch in a bottle.

Then a Like Like dropped on his head.

Startled, the Hylian backpedaled away from the undulating gray cylinder, tripping and falling on his behind in the most undignified way possible. Whipping out his boomerang, Link stunned the menace and proceeded to hack away at it with his sword, using a bomb to vent his frustrations when finishing it off. Another Like Like fell from the ceiling in the process, but Link was prepared, and so it went down even easier than its predecessor.

After capturing the Fairies in a jar for death evasion, Link noticed that a small chest had appeared, the door had opened, and the torch by the door was lit. Opening the chest revealed a Deku Stick. He knew what he had to do. Link lit a Deku Stick with the torch before sprinting out of the room, lighting the cobwebs blocking the way to the leftmost room in the fish god's innards.

Inside the room was a massive blue tentacle that dangled from the roof. Link grinned sadistically; he knew these large multicolored protrusions were easy to deal with. So he ran in and threw his boomerang at the pinched section a few times, and the tentacle writhed madly before falling apart. Easy.

Link backed out of the room and moved to the right side of the trident-esque series of hallways, noticing several wooden boxes strewn around the path. There were two sphincters he could go through, so Link randomly selected the rightmost one and strolled through it.

He was introduced to the green tentacle, which was just as easy to slaughter as the blue one. Having diced the tentacle to bits, Link turned around and walked back out, taking a right immediately and going into that room.

The room before him had nothing of value, and the Compass wasn't registering anything, either. So Link, who didn't want to spend any more time than necessary inside of Lord Jabu-Jabu's internal organs, backed out and returned to the trident-like room. He picked up a box and meandered down to the central area, but was surprised by another Lizalfos that dropped from out of nowhere. It broke the box with its sword, reducing it to splinters. Link proceeded to ram the splinters down the lizard's throat, killing it.

Fortunately, there was another box.

Link set a lit bomb down by the boulders blocking the door before running backwards to grab the other box. When he came back, the rocks were gone and there was a blue button, which Link set the box down onto. He then walked through the door, killed the red tentacle, and left again, ignoring the Lizalfos as it dropped down again.

It was worthless, anyway. Just like everything else.

**!0*0!**

"How inconsiderate! How could you leave me behind?!" Princess Ruto demanded.

"I had to get through that door," Link explained angrily, pointing towards the moss-covered sphincter. "Quit complaining, or we'd never get out of here."

"Goddesses! Take some responsibility for once in your life!"

"What the hell do you _think_ I'm doing?" Link grumbled, picking up the now sitting Princess.

Ruto shivered from above him. "Why is your hand so cold? You couldn't warm it up?"

"In case you haven't noticed, I have a condition which reduces my left hand to literal bones," Link huffed, brandishing his left hand a bit from its position so that Ruto could examine it.

Whatever Ruto was going to say next was cut off by Ivan. "Princess Ruto, Ivan must apologize for leetle man's behavior. Ivan does not think he expected to be spelunking _Gospodin_ Jabu-Jabu's innards today."

"No, this is exactly what I expected, bar the cows," Link said. "I just really didn't want to have to deal with the most spoiled princess in the entirety of Hyrulean history."

"Show some respect!" Ruto demanded, particularly irate.

"Whatever. We're all going to die at some point anyway, so… not like it matters..."

Ivan appeared chagrined.

The fountain of water beneath Link's feet reached its maximum, allowing the Hero, Zora, and fairy to leap to the highest platform. The green tentacle that was once there was gone now, because Link had chopped it to bloody little bits in Jabu-Jabu's tail region.

The cows wouldn't stop mooing.

He walked through the door, as it closed behind him. From atop his head, Princess Ruto started thrashing wildly, feet kicking Link right in his eyes as she reached her arm out towards the spiked platform in front of them.

"That's it! That's what I've been looking for! Throw me up there! Onto the platform!" she demanded haughtily.

"Ow! Could you stop kicking me?" Link argued. "And Ivan, could you grab the Sapphire and bring it here?"

Ivan darted over to the center of the platform, examining the Spiritual Stone of Water sitting there. "Uh, Ivan thinks this is just a leetle bit far too heavy."

"Fine," Link acquiesced, chucking Ruto unceremoniously onto the dais. If she was injured by the throw, she didn't show it as she promenaded to the Spiritual Stone and picked it up. She was beaming.

"Oh my goodness!" she declared, sounding oh, so relieved. "I finally found… my mother's stone… I got very upset when Lord Jabu-Jabu swallowed it…"

"How did Princess Ruto let it get swallowed in the first place?" Ivan wondered.

"While I was feeding him, he suddenly swallowed me! I was so surprised that I dropped it inside. But now that I've found it, I don't need to be here anymore! …So take me home right this instant!"

"Okay, just come over here and we'll climb out in the other room," Link reasoned, barely keeping his fury in check. He hated being here, and it was rather obvious.

The Zora princess, seeming to agree, started walking forwards, only for the entire room to convulse around her. She lost her footing, and tripped. The entire platform suddenly raised into the ceiling, defying the laws of physics in the process.

"Keeeyaaaah! What is this? An octopus?!" Ruto's muffled screech reverberated.

Behind Link, the door sealed itself. This forced Link to turn on his heel and stare at the now-locked door. He could hear the giant spiked platform descend again, and the Hylian knew from experience that there was a Giant Octorok sitting on it. As soon as Link heard the loud boom of the octopus hitting the lower area he was sprinting in the opposite direction, keeping an eye on the direction of the dais' spin. He knew that as long as it was spinning in the opposite direction Link was going, the Octorok hadn't turned around. He readied his Boomerang, waiting for the opportune moment.

"Ivan!" Link yelled over the loud splashing noises of the Octorok. "When I'm close enough to that Octorok to hit it with this Boomerang, I want you to fly over to it. Just so that I can tell when I should throw it, okay?"

"Da!" the fairy responded, flying alongside the Hero of Time.

He kept running. Eventually, Link was close enough, and the Octorok was stunned by a solid throw from Link's Boomerang. He pulled out a Deku Stick and brought it down on the now-exposed rear of the octopus, snapping the Stick but dealing large amounts of damage to the beast.

It was thrown several feet in front of it, spun around a bit, and started charging at Link at full force. Link started running in the opposite direction, turning around again when he noticed the central platform's change in spin. The procedure repeated itself, and the Octorok met its end with the Kokiri Sword embedded in its backside.

**!0*0!**

The door unlocked and the platform descended a bit further, allowing Link to step on it. Once the Hero was standing in the center of the dais, it rose into the ceiling, allowing access to a new area. Princess Ruto was nowhere in sight.

There was a cow in the wall which wouldn't stop mooing and a few vases, all of which felt the wrath of the Hero of Time. The pots had Rupees, Deku Sticks and some bombs, while shooting the cow made the door to the next area open.

"Easy," Link bragged, running down the hallway towards the door. His triumph was promptly cut off by a giant jellyfish appearing from hammerspace just in front of the sphincter, nearly crushing Link. Fortunately, he was able to avoid the initial attack, but the jellyfish started spinning in place, flailing its tentacles about erratically. One of them caught Link on the shin, and the Hero grunted in pain. Even still, he mustered the strength to walk through the door into the next area. There was a cow stuck in the wall, a cow standing on the floor like a normal animal, and two living pillars of electricity. The door to the next area was locked, and there was a blue button just in front of the door. The only issue was that Link had nothing to put on that button in order to open the door. Shooting the cow in the wall did nothing, and killing the Lizalfos that attacked when Link approached the other cow did nothing, either.

Odd.

Link's boots were soaked in internal juices and they squelched with every step. He resolved to get new boots when he got back to the forest, as well as a new tunic and gloves.

"Maybe leetle man missed something in the last room," Ivan suggested.

"I don't think so," Link debated, scanning the lower level of the floor for an eye switch or something. His search was fruitless.

"Ivan thinks you should go back and check. Do it for Ivan's sake?"

"Okay, fine."

It turned out that Link didn't need to. Somehow, two wood boxes had appeared right by the door to the last room. They were sitting atop what appeared to be hookshot panels, which confused the child immensely.

He decided to count his blessings and not question it.

Link stunned the two thrashing platforms with his boomerang, then grabbed a box and leaped across to the other side, placing the box down on the blue button and walking through the sphincter. The cows mooed as he left, as if saying goodbye.

There were two platforms in this next area. Link knew it was above the crossroads room, the very second room he had ever entered in Lord Jabu-Jabu's belly. So the child hopped onto the other platform, and it slid along the mucusy wall until it was level with the first area. This allowed the Hero to enter the area formerly blocked by the red tentacle. He kicked open a chest with a small health potion before strolling through the sphincter into the last room.

Immediately, he heard the gurgling of a Like-Like, and surveying the room revealed another. There was a viny section of wall that led to the top of a high outcrop, and two cows stuck in the wall. They should be the last in the dungeon, and Link was content with that. He could also hear the clacking of a Skulltula, but he couldn't see it just yet.

He threw a Deku Nut at the floor, stunning both Like-Likes. He then smashed four Deku Sticks to destroy them both, and they dissolved into a pile of Rupees. Now his wallet was full again. Convenient.

The door to the Boss Area was sealed tight; he probably had to shoot a cow or something. So Link shot the cow closest to him, but all it did was make a chest drop down from nowhere, hitting Link on the head in the most embarrassing way possible. It held a Deku Nut.

Deducing that it must be the other cow, Link climbed onto the vine-covered outcropping to get a better angle on the aforementioned animal. He also noticed the Golden Skulltula perched on the structure to his left, which Link was able to seize. He then pulled out his slingshot and fired on the cow. It mooed, releasing a Red Rupee as it slid twenty feet up the wall. Both Link and Ivan were stupefied by the strange actions of the cow, but they came to the decision that questioning it would drive them insane. So they ignored it, shooting the cow again. It slid another ten feet up along the wall, this time releasing a Fairy. They shot the cow again. A loud chiming sound filled the room, and the door to the Boss Room unlocked. Relieved that this insanity was finally almost over, the Hylian and his fairy darted into the room as it sealed behind them.

**!0*0!**

The bioelectric anemone, Barinade, was waiting for him on the other side of the door as several transparent jellyfish swarmed around the creature's vulnerable body, protecting it for now.

This would be easy.

Link dashed forwards, ignoring the convulsing walls as he readied his boomerang for a throw. The anemone readied its electric armaments, but swiveled them to stare at its red, blue, and green tentacles as they were promptly sliced to pieces by Link's boomerang. Given this change of events, it hauled itself up a bit out of the floor, swinging jellyfish around the room like the Windmill in Kakariko Village after he had played the Song of Storms. Link dodged the mindless creatures and chucked his boomerang into Barinade's midsection, stunning both it and the jellyfish. Link then took the opportunity to slay the jellyfish, pausing frequently to re-stun the scourge of Jabu-Jabu's internal organs.

Then the room started shaking.

The floor started undulating in time with the walls, in a fashion that reminded Link of Bongo Bongo's drums. Meanwhile, Barinade had summoned the last of its electric jellyfish and were whirling them around itself in a tight circle, zooming around the room towards the child. Link threw himself to his right, landing on his side as a particularly violent movement surged through the floor. He then was greeted with the horrifying sight of Barinade bearing down on him, readying a surge of electricity from its three tentacles. Swallowing his fear, Link allowed the beast to collide with his body, using his dark magic to Backapparate behind the anemone. He then stunned it with his boomerang and went to town on the jellyfish, backing away when they started rotating again. Fortunately, it was much easier to stun Barinade the next time, as the anemone was no longer entirely protected from the Boomerang.

Once all the jellyfish had ceased to exist, Barinade started madly moving around the room, tentacles firing shot after shot of electricity and filling the room with the acrid scent of ozone. It was easy enough to stun, but as Link was about to jump-slash its exposed midsection, the floor spasmed violently, throwing the unsuspecting Hero right in between Barinade's three arms. Making the best of the situation, Link slashed away at the top of the beast, splashes of verdant blood spewing forth from any attack the Hero made.

Barely hearing a warning from Ivan, Link ducked as a blast of electricity zipped just over his head. He turned and leapt off of the top of the anemone, barely avoiding another blast as the walls suddenly started squeezing in around him. This limited the amount of space Link could move in, and by proxy, the amount of room Link had to dodge Barinade's attacks. Soon, the creature started moving again, revealing its weak point as it glided about. Another stun was followed by a few more attacks, which fortunately didn't throw Link thirty feet into the air this time.

The beast regressed into the floor again, spraying its internal liquids as it wildly fired blast after blast of electricity. The Hero was able to avoid most of the attacks, but a few managed to clip him from time to time. Eventually, it revealed its weak spot one last time, and Link, seeing his opportunity, thrust his blade into it.

The boss suddenly seized up, red tumors forming all over its surface. The arms were consumed by the tumours and fell off. The rest of its body exploded into a wave of green blood and cartilage, drenching the Hero in its disgusting fluids. Link shivered, uncomfortable, as he drunkenly staggered over to the glowing blue spot on the floor where Ruto inexplicably floated, glaring at him with her hands on her hips and… was that a blush?

"You… you're late! What took you so long? You're useless!" she hollered at her savior, crossing her arms. "I was just lonely, that's all… Just a little!"

"Oh, Farore, not this again… why me?" Link mumbled. Ivan was laughing quietly in the background, but ceased when Link shot him a glare that would make Ganondorf jealous.

The blue glow expanded upwards, pulling Link and Ruto up and out of the fish god's innards. It dropped them off on top of a very narrow log, and Link was staring deep into Ruto's eyes. Naturally, the Hero wanted a little breathing room, and stepped backwards a little, only for his sodden boots to betray him. The Hylian comically slid off of the log and fell gracelessly off into the clear water below. Said water quickly became not as clear, as all the blood and sweat plastered to Link's body started to shed off into the water, tainting it green and red.

He noted that it was a week before Summer's Day, and that it was warm. He'd done it. He'd just saved the world again.

Link surfaced a few seconds later, gasping and coughing up all the water from his lungs. Vaguely, he heard a splash behind him; Ruto must have jumped into the lake after him.

"You looked cool… cooler than I thought you would, anyway," she admitted. "Well, you saved me and found my mother's stone, so I guess I should reward you… What do you wish? Just tell me…"

Link thought for a moment. He needed the Spiritual Stone of Water, but he also really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, _really_ didn't want to get engaged at the ripe old age of ten and a quarter, because that caused quite a few complications with his life.

"Okay, I know I might be putting you in a pickle, but I need the Zora's Sapphire to save the world," Link said, trying to not sound completely insane. "I know the traditions and customs associated with it among the Zora, but I'd really rather not get engaged at s… ten years old. I think we're both a bit too young to think about that sort of thing."

Well, one of them was, anyway.

"Please don't take this the wrong way, Princess, but given our conversations inside of Lord Jabu-Jabu… I doubt we're each other's types," Link added lamely.

"But… but… my late mother gave it to me and said I ought to give it to the man who would be my husband…" Ruto said, morose.

"I get that, I really do," Link tried to console, "but I need the Stone. If you don't give me the Stone, Ganondorf, King of Ev- of the Gerudo, will just come and take it by force. According to your father, he was the one who made Lord Jabu-Jabu sick in the first place. Once the trouble dies down, I'll bring the Stone back, but until then, I need to bring it somewhere safe."

"Where are you thinking?"

Where was he going to bring the Stones, actually? Link contemplated fleeing Hyrule, but he had no idea what was outside of the country, so that was off the table. Then his mind instantly located the perfect place; somewhere where he could keep an eye on them, and more importantly, where Ganondorf couldn't go.

"Back to where I live, in the Lost Woods. Adults can't go there without becoming a Stalfos like my hand," Link explained, showing his hand for emphasis. "Okay?"

"A-all right," Ruto relented. "I'll give you my most precious possession: Zora's Sapphire!"

She dived under the water and swam away a little, eventually resurfacing and chucking the Stone at him. It hit Link on the head and fell into the water; fortunately, Link was able to fish out the gem before it started sinking.

"Don't tell my father," Ruto said as she swam past him and into Zora's Domain.

Link heaved himself out of the cool, fresh water, sat down heavily on the stone dais, ignored Lord Jabu-Jabu, and drank from his canteen.

"Ivan?"

"Da?"

"Could you go tell the Princess that I've collected all the Spiritual Stones and that I'll be bringing them to the Lost Woods until things die down? I'll be heading to Kokiri Forest, okay?"

Ivan raised an eyebrow. "Leetle man wants time to think, da?"

"That too," Link admitted sheepishly.

"Okay. Ivan will go."

And just like that, the fairy was gone, zipping off towards Hyrule Castle.

Link breathed a sigh of relief. The sun was warm on his skin. Comforting. He decided that he was content, to an extent. Everyone may have forgotten everything, but things were already looking great. And it looked like things would only get better from here.

**!0*0!**

**Let's end this chapter on a high note, shall we?**

**NOOTTD:**

**1\. I hope to make the boss fights a bit cooler each go. I have huge plans for Morpha and Bongo Bongo, especially.**

**2\. The nine-note song that will become the Scarecrow's Song is literally just the main nine notes of the Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme). I felt like it.**

**REVIEW PLEASE!**


	8. Chapter 7: Depression

**Chapter 7, wow. This chapter was almost as much of a blast to write as Jabu-Jabu was. I hope I did it justice.**

**RRRP:**

_ChangelingRin (FF): _Probably. I did make sure to add interesting rewards to the more useless rooms in certain dungeons, like the Spirit Temple. I'm surprised that there was less fervor over Nierak, because that guy was actually laughing gas given physical form. Really, though, Nierak was super fun to write just because he's a complete whackjob.

_Agent3Novi (AO3): _Wow, thanks! Good to know that my entrance into the Archive is well-received. Once again, Link is infused with snippets of my most recent Master Quest playthrough along with some other elements. And if you think Ivan is precious, I would like to direct you to our lord and savior, Nierak the Dark Mage.

**DISCLAIMER: [insert disclaimer here]**

_Chapter VII: The Chapter where Everything Goes to Shit_

The trees were more gnarled here. Link was strolling through a part of the forest that was particularly isolated from the Kokiri, and thus was never nurtured by the forest children. The trees here were gargantuan, twisted around themselves in complex arcs, like the elderly.

Like Link.

Link had taken to walking around this area as soon as he had gotten back from Zora's Domain. It helped him think, and it was nice to finally be somewhat isolated once again. He felt drained when he was around too many other people. Ivan liked it, too. Apparently, his partner had spent much of his time here before he had met up with Link. It was, in the fairy's words, 'how a forest ought to look.'

The sprite was fluttering alongside him, keeping him company. He'd reappeared from Castle Town the other day, having told Princess Zelda that the Spiritual Stones had been obtained and were safe in Kokiri Forest. Link had hidden them in a chest, and then buried it below the earth right underneath the ladder that led to his house. The Hero was pretty proud of that; nobody would think to look there. Not even Ganondorf.

Link had come back to the forest with much fanfare, and the Kokiri had more or less demanded that he recount every instant of his sojourn outside of the Forest. He told them his about his first journey, instead. Somehow, it felt so much more fitting than the grit of his most recent escapade. It was probably because how the Kokiri were, well, children, and thus didn't take too well to the violence that pervaded Link's newest story; plus, the outside world had to be unappealing enough that the Kokiri wouldn't want to leave, and die in the process. The Hero had gotten all the way up to Lord Jabu-Jabu, but no farther.

"Hey, Ivan?"

"Da?"

"Before you were my partner… what did you do? I mean, I've never seen any fairies that weren't either bonded to a Kokiri, languishing in a Fairy Fountain, or a Great Fairy."

"Fairies in general tend to congregate around Fairy Fountains only to… recharge, so to speak," Ivan explained. "That is why there are so many of them in the fountains, especially around densely populated places."

"I mean… okay, but that wasn't exactly my question. I was asking about _you_ specifically. You know so much about me, I want to know more about you."

"Well," the sprite began, "Ivan is something of a historian. Ivan spent centuries studying the ancient history of the Goddesses and their creation. Because Ivan did not converse much with other fairies, he spent much of his time learning of the old times. Perhaps it is because of that... that Ivan... was selected to be leetle man's partner."

"You seem awfully hesitant when you say that," Link said suspiciously. "Are you lying to me?"

"What? Of course not! Ivan would never hurt you!" Ivan announced.

Link allowed a grin to cross his face. "Yeah, yeah," he said jokingly.

He figured it was time to turn back, towards the brighter spots of the forest.

"Takzhe…"

"Yeah, Ivan?"

"Ivan has been wanting to ask you abouta something for a while now. Back when we destroyed King Dodongo, you mentioned something about… being Hylian?"

"Yeah. I'm a Hylian, raised as a Kokiri," Link explained. "My mom came here to escape the Unification War with infant me, and entrusted me to the Great Deku Tree. Why do you ask?"

"No- no reason. Ivan was just wondering."

"Oh, okay," Link said. The village was just up ahead, and Link was happy.

**!0*0!**

Before he could even properly exit the Lost Woods, Link heard his name. It was Saria, and the boy saw his Kokiri best friend rush over to him with some kind of white rectangle.

"There you are! We've been looking all over for you! Where'd you go?"

"On a walk," Link explained curtly.

"Oh. Well, we found this on the bridge into the forest. It was addressed to you. Mido wanted to open it, but none of us let him."

The Hylian gingerly took the paper from Saria and instantly recognized _Zelda_'s handwriting. What was a letter with Zelda's handwriting on it doing in Kokiri Forest?

He opened the envelope, wondering what was inside. There was a letter, written on white stationery. Link unfolded the letter and perused it, instantly realizing that it was written in reverse; i.e, from right to left as opposed to left to right.. Thus, it took him a few minutes to actually figure out what the letter said.

"_Dear Link,_" he read aloud. "_Ivan informed me that you have collected all three Spiritual Stones and that you are headed back to the Kokiri Forest with them. Words cannot express the joy that I feel, knowing that Ganondorf's plans have been thwarted. As you probably know, the Summer's Day Festival is in four days, and I wish to formally invite you to the castle to attend the festivities. My father wishes to meet you as well, so please do come._

_Signed,_

_Princess Zelda._"

Link looked at the letter, then at Saria, then back at the letter, then at the exit to the forest. "The Princess has invited me to visit Hyrule Castle and meet her father, the king. To not go would be considered impolite. So I have to be there by Summer's Day, which is in… four days! I ought to get going as soon as possible so that I'm not late."

"When will you be back?" Saria asked, worry evident in her voice.

"Probably a week. Not too long," Link assured. "I'll be gone before nightfall."

**!0*0!**

Two long days had passed. It had consisted of Link walking purposefully through Hyrule Field towards the castle itself, Ivan following along. The people in the villages appeared tense, as if Link as a human being was unable to be comprehended. The Hero in question was just glad that the Kokiri had agreed to make him some new gloves, although only Saria and the Know-it-all Brothers knew the true reason.

He was approaching Lon Lon Ranch. The horizon was colored with vast swaths of pinks and oranges as the sun set over a group of innocuous-looking clouds. He could see Talon and a slightly disgruntled Ingo standing at the entrance, grinning. Link waved back, but was slightly confused when he didn't hear Malon's voice floating across the ranch. As it turned out, she was in Castle Town for Summer's Day, staying with a family friend.

It was a quiet affair, really. They ate a meal that didn't sit well to their guest, who wasn't used to eating a good amount in one sitting anymore. They had prepared a soft bed for him in the attic of the ranch house, but it was somehow even fluffier than his wooden bed in Kokiri Forest. This was saying something, as the forest children could make several planks of ice held together with rusty nails feel like a sun-kissed cloud. Naturally, Link couldn't handle the sheer amount of bend the bed had to it, and took the floor instead.

At least Ivan appreciated having an entire Hylian-sized bed all to himself.

**!0*0!**

Link left the next evening at Talon's behest. The ranch owner refused to let Link not stay for a full day, even if Malon wasn't there to keep him company. It was overcast. It smelled of rain. It sure wasn't a good day to have a festival, Link noted wryly.

The drawbridge of Castle Town was closed. That made sense, as it was the middle of the night. Then again, surely he wasn't the only person going to Castle Town for the festival, right? It _was_ the day before Summer's Day, so it should be at least a little bit less barren.

Just as Link thought that, the drawbridge started lowering. He could make out a white horse galloping towards him. If Link squinted, he could see Impa and Zelda on that horse. He waved, assuming that they must have come out to greet him.

But the horse never stopped. In fact, it almost bowled over Link, who barely got out of the way in time. Zelda was staring at him with fear in her eyes. She threw something over her shoulder, into the moat. Something blue.

Link stood there, numb. What was going on? That was the Ocarina of Time, right? Why was Zelda running away from the castle? The last time Link saw anything like that was the day when-

Oh, Goddesses.

The Hero of Time whirled on his heel and saw Ganondorf's steed breathing down his neck. The solid black stallion reared up before the gates to Castle Town, then set itself back down on all fours. Ganondorf's eyes were glowing a hateful gold, and speckles of blood stained his torso.

It started drizzling. Then it started pouring, rain falling out of the sky in droves. Thunder echoed across the darkened expanse of the sky.

Ganondorf said nothing. Slowly, his head swiveled downwards to glance at Link. He stared for a solid minute before his voice drowned out the pouring rain.

"The Goddesses are laughing, aren't they?" he snarled, his expression contorting into one of pure hatred. "First they sent a mortal, and now they send a _child_?"

Link froze, hand halfway reaching for the Kokiri Sword strapped to his back. Ganondorf remembered. _Ganondorf_ remembered. Why _Ganondorf_?

The King of the Gerudo dismounted from his horse, glaring violently at Link with his luminescent eyes. The Hero of Time unsheathed his blade, knowing it wouldn't be able to so much as scratch the future King of Evil.

"Pathetic," he scoffed, scorn dripping from his deep, gravelly voice. "You're not even old enough to wield the Goddess Sword. Is this little shit what the great Hylia's Chosen has become? Is it?!"

Link didn't respond. He didn't know what to say. He was ten feet from Ganondorf and Ivan was hiding in Link's hat, hyperventilating.

Suddenly the King of Thieves sprung forwards, fists spewing dark energy. Link didn't have time to react, and Ganondorf snatched the child by the scruff of his neck as dark magic held him fast in the warlock's grip. Link kicked his legs in the air with vigor in a vain attempt to hit his opponent, but they weren't long enough to so much as tap the older man.

"Death would be a _mercy _to someone as insignificant, worthless, disgusting, feeble, despicable, contemptible, unsatisfactory, and pitiful as you," the murderer spat. "Besides, you hold the keys to the Sacred Realm, do you not? Killing you would set me back centuries."

Link said nothing. This time, it was because he physically couldn't breathe.

An explosion of dark energy burst from Ganondorf's hands, and Link painfully fell to the wet earth with a loud crack. Instants later, he felt the madman's boot connect with his ribs, sending Link rolling twenty feet along the sodden grass, leaking blood from the corner of his mouth. Shakily, the boy got his arms underneath his body, but he put too much weight on his left hand and he collapsed again.

He heard Ganondorf pool dark magic in his palm, effortlessly creating a searing ball of plasma between his fingers. Given Link's current state, it wouldn't take much for Ganondorf to end his life right then and right there. He instantly regretted releasing his fairies in the forest; he could have used them right then.

"Let's make a deal, shall we?" Ganondorf said, sickeningly sweet. "You draw the Master Sword in the Temple of Time, and I will let your death be quick and painless."

"G… go to hell…" Link said breathlessly, every inhale and exhale sending wave after excruciating wave of agony down his body. He got his legs underneath him. Ivan had disappeared from his hat. Odd.

"Oh, you want to play it like that, do you," the king spat. "Okay, let's make another deal, you little shit. You draw the Master Sword in the Temple of Time, and I won't slaughter everyone you love. Slowly. And painfully. In front of you. And I won't make their screams come back to haunt you every time you close your revolting, childish little eyes."

"Fuck off, Ganonwhoref!" Link bellowed, finally managing to stand on his own two feet.

"Intriguing," the monster snorted. "Even after all of this, you're still trying to resist me? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Repulsive as you are, you are somehow still Hylia's Chosen. With that revelation in mind, let me tell you a fact."

Link glared. He couldn't do much else. Hell, he could barely even keep upright, much less fight back.

"Every day that passes in which you don't draw the Sword, I will decimate a settlement of you worthless mortals," Ganondorf said, raising his hand. "I think that ranch should be a good enough start, don't you agree?"

With an ear-splitting screech, the massive ball of dark energy streaked past Link's vision, leaving the Hero of Time blinking madly in an effort to get rid of the spots in his eyes. But the momentary brightness was dwarfed by the massive explosion that swallowed Lon Lon Ranch. The farm erupted in flames, black smoke rising over the dark horizon. Somewhere, a clock struck midnight, its warbling tolls a deathnell for Malon's home. It was Summer's Day.

Ganondorf started hollering something in some guttural language Link couldn't comprehend before mounting his steed and galloping off after Zelda. Link didn't hear him. He was already running, taking step after agonizing step towards the ranch. After a hundred meters or so, he collapsed, the adrenaline having completely dissipated from his system and leaving Link utterly drained.

**!0*0!**

"Ivan heard the explosion! What happened?!" Ivan demanded, beating his wings furiously. Link couldn't remember how he got there, collapsed in the mud in the pouring rain, but he wasn't delirious enough to not notice the jar of Red Potion Ivan was carrying. Snatching the jug from the fairy, who sighed in relief, Link took the flask and chugged it all down, feeling his egregious wounds magically close.

He spent a short eternity sitting there, listening to his heart pounding, the rain falling, and the flames flickering. Then he got up again, and kept running, Ivan following close behind.

"Leetle man, what happened?"

"Ganonwhoref happened!" Link yelled back. "He remembers, Ivan. He remembers everything. He knew I was the Hero of Time, he knew-"

"Nyet, leetle man. Ganondorf does not remember you as the Hero of Time. He remembers you as the Hero of the Sky, for he is the Hatred incarnation of the Demon King Demise. Or at least, he said as much in the language of demons. In other words, we're doomed."

Link stopped, suddenly feeling relieved and terrified at the same time. Was that even possible? "So… Ganondorf is actually Demise? And who the hell is Demise?"

"Ivan will explain later! Ivan can barely hear you over this storm!"

It was true. The rainstorm had gotten worse, and lightning bolts pounded Hyrule Field with deafening cracks, sending plumes of dust up into the dreary sky.

The rain didn't stop Lon Lon Ranch from burning. Its flames were like a great beacon, making it impossible to miss.

He was close enough to hear the pained whinnying of horses as the stables caught alight. He had to move quickly. He owed Talon and Ingo that much.

Link sprinted into the ranch, instantly throwing himself into the ranch house. He couldn't get far; the entirety of the wood floor was engulfed in flames, and roasted cucco corpses littered the floor.

Then he saw it. A single charred hand, reaching towards the door. Then there was another, right next to it. Two left hands, one significantly fatter than the other. For an instant, Link feared it was Malon before quelling the thought. Malon was in Castle Town. It had to be Talon and Ingo. Yes, of course.

His eyes lidded with tears. He had to get out. He had to go and fix what little he could.

It was his fault, anyway.

Link left the ranch house, and realized that the stable was lost. Half of it was consumed by a massive crater, and the rest was slowly burning. He couldn't smell any cows burning, so he assumed they had gotten out.

Then the Hylian turned his attention towards what he had always assumed was a grazing area, complete with a race track and a large pen. The pen was on fire, naturally, flames ever expanding in a growing circle. The horses and other livestock had mostly congregated between the ranch house and the pen, given that there wasn't any fire there yet, but with the expanding flames it wouldn't last that way for long.

Unthinkingly, Link pulled out his ocarina and played Epona's Song to calm the horses. They stared at him down their long, equine snouts for a bit before trotting over to the boy with the fairy as he fervently blasted note after note after soul-rending note.

While still playing, Link led the horses towards the back of the ranch, where there was a large wooden fence that hadn't yet been consumed by flames. Without an experienced hand, Link couldn't coax the horses to jump over the fence, as it was simply too tall. So, because he had no other options, he threw his weight at it. Even over the deafening thunder and crackling of fire, the Hero could hear the wood start to snap. Again and again, Link rammed the fence, frequently stopping to play Epona's Song in order to quell the horses' panic.

After far too much time, the fence gave way to Link's struggling, a large hole appearing. It was big enough for even the largest horse to fit through. Now the issue was that of getting them out. He can lead a horse to water, but he couldn't make it-

Link was nearly trampled by the livestock as they escaped the burning Ranch, leaping out of the hole in the fence and out towards Hyrule Field. Once all the horses were out, Link, seeing that there was nothing more he could do, followed suit.

He looked out at the ranch one last time. Just as he did so, he saw the large tower in the back of the ranch collapse in on itself, cementing Link's failure to protect this mirrored world.

At least the rain was letting up.

No, that was a problem, because now he couldn't hide the tears that oozed down his childish cheeks.

He ran off into the night, away from the crackling flames of the ranch, towards Kokiri Forest. He had no choice. He was going back to being an adult again. A tiny part of him couldn't wait, and the rest of him was sickened by it.

**!0*0!**

"You never did tell me who Demise was," Link said a few days later, an involuntary shudder coursing through his being despite the warmth that accompanied the new summer.

They had picked up the Spiritual Stones in the Lost Woods and were on their way back to Hyrule Castle Town. It would take a little longer than usual, given that Link had planned a trail that would take him as far away from Lon Lon Ranch as possible, but would still get him there rather fast. Unfortunately, his route had taken him through several towns, all of which had been burnt to the ground and their denizens slaughtered by the hundreds. Ganondorf's doing.

Link's fault.

"Ivan already explained it to you," Ivan said hesitantly, clearly trying to avoid the subject.

"No, you didn't," Link pushed. "Could you tell me about him?"

"_It, _leetle man. Demise is essentially the essence of all hatred in all of existence. It lusted after the Triforce eons ago, before even the Great Fairies were born. And with an army of eldritch abominations, Demise started a war with the surface dwellers over the sacred triangles. But the goddess Hylia sent some of the surface dwellers high into the sky, as she became mortal to keep Demise sealed away until someone with enough Courage could rise to slay the Demon King.

"Thousands of years later, a youth by the name of Link rose to the challenge, of sorts. This youth forged the Master Sword and used it to fight Demise in the ancient past, finally ending the demon.

"But Demise was not finished. With its dying breath, it cursed Link, forcing all those who bear the courage of the hero and the blood of the Goddess into a cycle with no end, borne on by an incarnation of Demise's hatred. That language Ganondorf was speaking was the language of Demons, thought lost to time forever. That, coupled with the fact that he referred to you as the Hero of the Skies, can only mean that Ganondorf is that incarnation of Demise."

Link walked on for a minute or two, processing what he had just heard. "So I'm just part of an endless cycle to put down Demise's Hatred incarnations without cease?"

"That's not how Ivan would put it," Ivan corrected. "You're part of a cycle to save Hyrule. And this is the first time in history that Demise's curse has actually been seen; the last Heroes of Men have all fought the Wind Mage Vaati, who doesn't hold a candle to Ganondorf, much less Demise."

"Then is Zelda part of the cycle too?"

"Where there's a Link, there's a Zelda," Ivan certified, "but Zelda does not reincarnate. The _Printsessa_ is the mortal incarnation of the Goddess Hylia. The Zelda's are all descendants of one another, but they are not connected outside of that. _Ponyal_?"

"Yeah, I think I do," Link verified. "Thanks, Ivan."

"Ivan is happy to help," the sprite said amicably. The conversation had carried them all the way to Castle Town. The whole atmosphere of the place had shifted so dramatically since the last time Link was there. It was quiet, or at least as quiet as Castle Town ever got. Not to mention that it was deserted. Compared to the first day he had entered the castle, it was a ghost town. Link supposed everyone was in shock over the death of the king.

Then he saw Malon.

Evidently, the ranch girl had had enough sense to not rush to the burning farm as soon as she saw it, and had instead stayed in Castle Town with that family friend of hers. But even still, she had lost that intrinsic happiness that was usually present on her features. If she was taller and Link didn't know her, the Hero would have thought she was a grouchy old lady.

As soon as she saw Link, she sprinted up to him and threw her arms around him, sobbing something fierce. Not quite knowing what to do, Link slowly and awkwardly wrapped his arms around her and soothingly rubbed her back. The few people that were in the square shot sympathetic glances towards the pair, as Malon cried into Link's shoulder.

"Thank the Goddesses you're not dead, Fairy Boy," Malon finally got out over her heaving sobs.

"I'm glad you had the sense to not rush to the Ranch like I did," Link replied softly. "I made sure some of the livestock got out into Hyrule Field, although they could be anywhere in the field."

"What about my daddy? And Uncle Ingo?" Malon asked.

There it was- the question he'd been dreading.

"Malon," Link began, putting a bit of distance between himself and his friend. "I… I couldn't get there in time. I'm sorry."

They stood like that for a long time. Then Malon took a deep breath, struggling to not let any tears fall down her face. "Thank you for telling me the truth. When I asked, I was terrified that you'd lie to me."

Link was confused. "You're not mad at me?"

"Of course I'm mad," Malon scoffed, looking at Link like he was crazy. "I'm sad, angry, and sort of tired. But I'm not mad at you, Fairy Boy. There was nothing you could have done. It's not like you were the one who blew up the ranch."

Now tears were falling down Link's face. "But it was because of me that the Ranch was destroyed! I may not have been the one to cast the spell, but I happen to have something that Ganonwh- Ganondorf wants desperately. And in order to make me give it to him, he blew up the Ranch. So it _is _my fault, and that's the truth. I'll be back in seven years, Malon. Don't wait for me."

With that, the boy turned man turned boy again forced himself out of Malon's grasp, skeletal hand fingering the Ocarina of Time. He walked to the Temple of Time, as his legs felt more like lead by the second. He fought to plod down the blood red carpet right down the center of the temple, hands shaking as he played the Song of Time in front of the altar. The six simple notes nearly destroyed him.

With a flash of light, the three Spiritual Stones appeared before the altar, spinning in a circle before coming to rest at the three indented areas on the table; Water to the left, Fire in the middle, and Forest on the right. The Triforce engraving over the Door of Time glowed a vibrant gold, and the great stone door slid open to reveal a large dais.

"Leetle man… Is that…" Ivan started, flying into the now open room. "The Master Sword… Neimovernyy. Never thought Ivan would see it."

Link didn't hear him. His mind was consumed with Ganondorf's maniacal laughter, echoing through his brain. _Only Castle Town will fall if I do this_, he told himself. _Everyone will be okay. They all go to Kakariko. Everything… will be just… okay…_

With a new resolve, the Hylian forced himself to ascend the pedestal, each footfall a foreshadowing of his doom. His childish hands gripped the Master Sword's deep blue hilt, and mustering all his strength, he drew it from the stone, tears bursting from his eyes, as the blue light swallowed him and reality tore itself to pieces around him.

"Geh heh heh! Excellent work!"

Link tuned out Ganondorf's little speech. It hurt too much to listen.

The light consumed Link's mind once again, and he remembered no more.

**I told you that this was the chapter where everything went to shit. Also, I really hope I set this up in such a way that Link still draws the Master Sword without compromising his character. Ganondorf's threat was just forceful coercion.**

**NOOTTD: An actual metric ton of Skyward Sword references. Also, Ganondorf Side-B to Down-tilt = best combo.**

**Review please!**


	9. Chapter 8: Woe to A New World

**And now, may I introduce to you… Adult Link!**

**RRRP:**

_ChangelingRin (FF): _Honestly, I just wanted to have a fourth boss phase against Demise at the end. It stems from an ancient draft for a different Zelda fic, which features every single one of Link's items breaking right in the final battle.

Unpopular opinion: I think Ingo is better than Talon. Ingo is at the very least hardworking and reliable, which can't be said of Talon. That being said, I didn't want to kill off Talon, either, but I needed Link to open the door of time. I tried writing it so that Ganondorf would threaten some random townies, but it didn't seem… personal enough.

Regarding Anjou… I'm not sure if you're speaking with sarcasm there. That's basically what I did: I made Anjou the family friend that Malon was staying with for Summer's Day. Once again, I needed some way to blow up the Ranch without killing Malon… I get that it's messed up, but it works.

If it makes you feel any better, outside of maybe one or two other scenes, chapter 7 is the lowest point in the story. It's only uphill from here.

_Agent3Novi (AO3):_ Sorry I just you so bad. But you know that quote from Robert Frost: "No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader." My writing style lives on that quote. And Nieraj is the Zora Dark Mage who taught Link a bit of dark magic in chapter 6, and is also hilarious.

_PsieKhoCis (FF): _Yeah, I know I'm evil. You'll probably be saying that a lot with this fic. Malon's definitely up there with my favorite video game characters. Not #1, but up there. The Temples are going to be _fun._ Thanks for the feedback!

_Guest (FF)_: Yes.

**DISCLAIMER: I own Ivan… sort of. Nobody else. Not even Stalfos Link. Poor me.**

_Chapter VIII: Deja Vu (I've Just Been in this Time Before)_

"_Link… Wake up… Link, the chosen hero…"_

Slowly, the agonizing white light receded from Link's vision, and the Hylian was greeted by a flowing blue platform, oozing calming blue waves out from its center towards the sides of the dais. Around him, great pillars of watery substance flowed down from the heights of the room and into the dark abyss below. He was standing on a dais suspended in nothingness, surrounded by six smaller pedestals with each of the Sage's Emblems emblazoned on them. Link, on the other hand, was placed in the center of the dais, on a raised platform with a great golden Triforce on it.

His eyes drifted lazily about, getting used to the new perspective of being an adult again and not understanding why it felt so comfortable. The last time he had transformed into an adult, he had felt so awkward in his own skin that he had nearly retched every time he took a single step.

Eventually, Link stopped scanning the room and rested his eyes on the rather pudgy old man staring back at him from the Light Pedestal. Seeing that Link had finally taken notice of him, the elderly man began his speech.

"I am Rauru, one of the ancient Sages," Rauru introduced. "Ages ago, we ancient Sages built the Temple of Time to protect the entrance to the Sacred Realm…"

Link wanted to say that he knew all of this, but that would be rude.

"This is the Chamber of Sages, deep within the Temple of Light, and the Temple of Light, situated at the very center of the Sacred Realm, is the last stronghold against Ganondorf's evil forces. The Master Sword - the evil-destroying blade that you pulled from the Pedestal of Time - was the final key to the Sacred Realm. Link… don't be alarmed. Look at yourself!"

Link crossed his arms and adopted a more casual stance, as if to silently tell Rauru that he couldn't care less. Then he stopped. Because he was looking at his left hand.

The pristine, off-white skeletal hand that belonged to his child form had aged differently from the rest of his body. As opposed to have simply increased in size, the coloring of the bones had changed entirely. They were almost a charred black now, a stark difference from what they once looked like. Link also noted that he was wearing odd, copper colored greaves which fit surprisingly well. The Hero noted that the rest of his attire had similarly changed; he had garnered a pair of white leggings and a white undershirt at some point, along with a pair of small earrings. His tunic, while still forest green, had chainmail sewn into the very fabric, especially by the lower hem. He had also conveniently lost his widow's peak, and he had grown nearly three heads in height.

"Ha!" Ivan said in delight. "Link is no longer leetle man now! You've grown up!"

"Does that mean you'll be coming up with a new nickname for me?" Link asked, slightly hopeful. He immediately noticed how much deeper his voice was than it had been in his child form. It felt so much better.

"Maybe. It depends."

Rauru cleared his throat, startling Link and his fairy back into attention.

"The Master Sword is a sacred blade that no evil may ever touch," the Sage explained. "Only one worthy of the title of 'Hero of Time' can pull it from the Pedestal of Time… However, when you pulled the sword, you were too young to be that Hero of Time. Therefore, the sword sealed your spirit here for seven years. And now-"

"So the sword sealed my spirit, but not my body?" Link asked. "And for that matter, shouldn't I be wearing that Kokiri Tunic I was wearing when I drew the blade? How'd I change clothes if my soul was sealed? I have a lot of questions and I don't really want to know the answers, but at the same time, I really do. So…"

"Magic," Rauru explained simply. "You now wear the garb of the Heroes before you. Anyway, as I was saying, now that you are old enough, the time has come for you to awaken as the Hero of Time! Well, do you understand your destiny?"

"Pretty straightforward, to be honest," Link smirked. "Leave this place, fight some evil, and kill Ganonwhoref. Simple."

"Language," Ivan scolded.

"Agreed, little fay. But remember," Rauru continued. "Though you opened the Door of Time in the name of peace, Ganondorf was able to use it to enter the forbidden Sacred Realm and touch the Triforce."

_Gee, you don't say? _Link thought.

"He obtained the Triforce from the Temple of Light, and with its mighty power, became the King of Evil… His evil powers radiated from the temples across Hyrule, and in the six short years of his reign, it transformed Hyrule into a realm of eldritch demons. My power now has little influence, even in the Sacred Realm. But the power of the Sages remain. For when the power of all six Sages has awakened-"

"_Seven_ Sages," Link corrected.

"- of all the Sages has been awakened, the Sage's Seal will contain all the evil power into the void of the Realm. I, Rauru, am one of the ancient Sages. And your power to fight alongside the Sages makes you the Hero of Time! The very Hero chosen by the Master Sword!

"Keep my spirit with you… and find the power of the other Sages and add their might to your own!"

With that, the ancient Hylian spread his arms as a golden light filled the Chamber of Sages. A tiny gold coin fell from the upper echelons of the room, which Link caught and stowed away. It didn't do anything, anyway.

"Find the other Sages and save Hyrule!" Rauru ordered as Link's vision faded away.

**!0*0!**

Link now stood at the base of the Pedestal of Time, the Master Sword strapped along his right shoulder and Ivan casually fluttering at Link's side. Link had forgotten just how much darker it was in the future, as compared to the past. He looked around, expecting Zelda to appear in the guise of Sheik. But she wasn't there.

"Link… we're back in the Temple of Time," Ivan said. "And Ivan thinks Rauru took all that stuff that you had collected as a child… So you can't use your Kokiri Sword, Slingshot, Boomerang, or Deku Sticks anymore. Got it?"

"Yeah, I got it. Let's get out of here," Link acknowledged, turning from the now-empty Pedestal and strolling past the Door of Time.

He stopped at the base of the Pedestal. He said nothing for about ten seconds, allowing silence to fall over the room.

"So," he said to the Door of Time before quickly turning. "Would you prefer Sheik or Zeld-"

He was promptly cut off when the disguised princess swiftly ran up to him and pressed her calloused hand to his mouth, preventing him from fully saying her name. "Don't say my name. Ganondorf's hexed it with a taboo, so he's able to figure out where I am if anyone says it to me."

At least she was being honest with him now. It beat spending the better portion of his adventure thinking she was a man.

"Ah, I guess that makes sense. So, _Sheik_, Rauru gave me the short version of what just happened. Ganondorf fucked everything over -"

"Just because you're an adult now doesn't mean that you can start swearing left and right!" Ivan interrupted. "Well, more than usual, anyway!"

"- and he's been fucking everything over for the last six, seven years. Am I right?"

"Evidently, your nap hasn't done you any good for your vocabulary," Zelda grumbled. "And how did you know it was me? I thought my disguise was perfect."

"Easy. Impa is reportedly the last of the Sheikah, and she was last seen running away with you. So…"

"Actually, the Sheikah have been doing pretty well for the last few centuries," the disguised princess corrected. "Impa is just the only one anyone sees. How do you think Hyrule won the Unification War?"

"Okay… but… even if Impa wasn't the last Sheikah, she was definitely the only one that had Princess Z- I mean, you. And _you_ are the only one that knew that I was here. Therefore, you must be her. Am I right?" Link ad libbed.

Zelda appeared pensive. "Fair enough, I suppose," she relented, buying Link's bluff. "Anyway, I've been waiting for you. Rauru certainly didn't tell you where the remaining Sages are. One of them is in a forest, another a mountain, another a lake, another in the house of the dead, and the last in a goddess of the sand. Together with you, the awakened ones will bind the evil and return the light of peace to the world. This is the legend passed down by the Sheikah. And seeing you stand there, with the Master Sword, you really do look like the Hero of Time…

"But I digress. One Sage is waiting for the time of awakening in the Forest Temple. The Sage is a girl I'm sure you know… And because of the evil power radiating from that temple, she cannot hear the awakening call from the Sacred Realm. However, equipped as you are, you can't even enter the Temple. If you believe what I'm saying, you ought to head to Kakariko Village. Do you understand, Link?"

"Of course," Link said dryly. "All I have to do is go places and help people."

With that, the Hero turned from the princess and walked out of the Temple of Time, out into the destroyed world that awaited him.

**!0*0!**

Castle Town had been reduced to an ashen square filled with Redeads. Link ignored them, instead opting to rush out into Hyrule Field. The drawbridge had been long since destroyed, and the sky was colored an ominous purple. A ring of fire had settled over Death Mountain, heralding bad times to come.

This would be interesting.

A group of Stalchildren shuffled right past the drawbridge, ignoring Link entirely. They were soon followed by a pack of Fire Keese that similarly disregarded the Hero of Time.

"What are they doing?" Link asked himself.

"Ivan is not sure," Ivan admitted. "Haven't you done all this before? Why are you asking Ivan?"

"Because this is new," Link explained like it was obvious. "Like how Ganondorf is possessed by Demise. It wasn't like that the last time I did this."

"Ivan supposes you have a-" Ivan started before being cut off by an alien screech.

Some kind of giant hairball scurried past Link, giving chase to the Stalchildren and Keese. On closer inspection, the hairball was oozing blood and pus, and was covered in rusty chains and eyeballs on all sides. It soon stopped, rear eyes swiveling madly and focusing on Link.

"What… the fuck… is that?"

For once, Ivan didn't scold Link for swearing. "That is a Maoqiu. It's a demon from ancient times. Be wary, for it is fast and vicious."

The Maoqiu approached, slowly at first, but then suddenly springing forwards in a full-on sprint that belied its size. Link summoned his shield, noting that the color scheme of the shield had also changed from a cobalt blue to a bright copper with an odd design on it, before turning back to the massive hairball.

Or rather, what was left of the hairball.

At some point, some thin bird thing had appeared from seemingly nowhere, and sliced the Maoqiu into bloody little bits with its ridiculously long beak. It had matted fur, coated in crimson, and an extremely sharp, long beak. It had to be at least fifteen feet tall, towering over the Hero of Time.

"And that is a Kumangiriza. It's another demon from ancient times. Its beak is extremely sharp and powerful, but it is unwieldy, and you can use that to your advantage."

Link had no time to use this newfound knowledge, as the Kumangiriza was promptly crushed under a giant skeletal foot. Link's eyes involuntarily traveled upwards to see a fifty-foot tall colossal skull monstrosity, with two long, spindly arms, two long, spindly legs, and about six skeletal faces etched into all sides of its skull. It screamed into the sky, nearly breaking the Hylian's eardrums.

"Bozhe… That's an Elder Skullfos. It's one of the most powerful eldritch abominations known to Ivan."

"Okay, but how do we kill it?" Link asked.

Ivan gave him a droll look. "We don't. We just run before it notices us."

"It hasn't noticed us?" Link inquired, incredulous.

"Not yet," Ivan affirmed. "Its eyesight is poor, but its sense of smell is very powerful. You should be very glad that you took a bath recently, or we'd both be dead by now."

Link didn't answer. He dived under what was left of the drawbridge, hopefully out of sight. Unlike how the water was supposed to be, Link couldn't see anything through the waves. He assumed that it was just the darkness. Closer inspection, however, revealed that the water itself was a corrupted black. That was new.

A disgusting sniffing noise filled the land, drowning out even the nearly inaudible gurgling of the putrid water surrounding him. The sound continued for what seemed like a decade before a loud series of _booms_ echoed through Hyrule Field. Link peeked out of the water and saw the Skullfos stalking away, dragging the mutilated corpses of the Kumangiriza and the Maoqiu behind it.

Link sighed in relief and hauled himself out of the frigid water.

He could see the ruins of Lon Lon Ranch from here, and from the looks of it, the location had been completely abandoned by mankind. Not to say that the former ranch was really abandoned; a pack of what appeared to be half-lion centaurs had set up camp there and were having some sort of brawl.

"Lynels," Ivan grumbled. "Strong, intelligent, armed, and most importantly, _deadly_. You're nowhere near ready to fight them. Steer clear and get to Kakariko. Got it?"

"Got it," Link ascertained, setting off towards Impa's home village.

Then he remembered something.

Link pulled out his ocarina and played Epona's Song, ignoring Ivan's questioning glance. Sure enough, his formerly faithful steed trotted over a few minutes later, nickering as if to say hello.

"How have you been, girl?" Link asked, not expecting an answer. The horse had been saddled and everything, as if she was born ready for Link to play the song. Smiling to himself, Link mounted Epona and gently dug his heels into her sides, spurring his equine companion into a brisk walk.

Soon, Link had made it to Kakariko. It quickly became overcast, a result of the chaos with Volvagia in Death Mountain. He'd fix that as soon as he saved Saria.

He glanced to his side as he crossed the bridge to Zora's River- and froze, signaling for Epona to stop as well. The gurgling brook that was supposed to be full of pristine water was instead flooded with a sickly dark green fluid that reminded Link all too much of the pus of an infected wound. What had happened to Hyrule in his absence?

A nearby tree began groaning, leaning over as it fell. It crashed into the corrupted water, and Link watched in horror as the bark was literally disintegrated by the river, which was apparently highly acidic. He stared uncomprehendingly for a time before swallowing a wave of nausea. The Hero then spurred Epona onwards, closer to Death Mountain.

He had remembered that Epona was scared to go into the Village itself, but apparently his memory was wrong, as his horse bounded up the steps like she'd done it a million times. Vaguely, he wondered where Malon was. She was probably here.

Everyone that had once resided in Castle Town seven years ago had relocated to here, making Kakariko more of a refugee camp than a town. The well had long since dried up, but nobody appeared dead, which was a bonus. He swallowed nervously, but Epona seemed to not care all that much. Link, who was unsure where the horse was going, simply allowed the horse to navigate the maze-like streets of the Sheikah village, eventually approaching the other side.

**!0*0!**

Ten minutes of riding later, Epona stopped. Link looked about before seeing a small sign labeled "New Lon Ranch". Link grinned sheepishly. Of course she had set up in Kakariko.

His grin soon faded when he looked past the sign and out towards the pastures. The animals looked fine - or at least, fine considering the fact that Hyrule was literally undergoing the apocalypse - but the grasses were all mottled brown, and the crops were all sickly and dying, probably due to lack of sun. It wouldn't last much longer. It couldn't.

Epona snorted and pawed the ground, as if to say _Get on with it!_

Taking a deep breath, Link walked past the sign and into the Ranch. It was laid out rather similarly to what had once been Lon Lon; there was a ranch house to the left, a stable to the right, and a large field down the middle with crops and space for the livestock. He coaxed Epona into following him with a carrot from Old Lon Ranch before gently knocking on the door.

There was no response. He knocked again.

A few seconds later, a red-haired woman opened the door. "Oh, hello! I see you found Epona. Do give Captain Rusl our thanks for his quick action. I mean, everything was fine, and then Epona just bolted! It was the str-"

"Uh… Who's Captain Rusl?" Link asked, cocking his eyebrow at the woman he had known to raise cuccos seven years ago. What was her name again… An-something?

"Wait… you're not part of the Guard?"

"Uh, no. I just got here and saw the horse. I'm actually looking for Malon, and I figured she'd be here, given that this place is called New Lon Ranch and that Old Lon Ranch was destroyed seven years ago," Link ad libbed.

She seemed to buy it. "Malon went into town to ask Captain Rusl to alert the Guard that Epona had- Oh, excuse me! Where are my manners? I'm Anjou, and you are...?"

"Link," Link said, not bothering to come up with a pseudonym. "How do you know Malon?"

"Talon and I were friends for our entire lives," Anjou explained, staring off into the distance whimsically. She was probably remembering Talon's death.

"I… for what it's worth, I'm sorry for your loss," Link said comfortingly.

They stayed like that for some time until the _other_ red-haired woman showed up.

"Anjou! Rusl said Epona re-entered the town at the so- Uh, am I interrupting something?"

Link turned at the sound and saw Malon's adult iteration standing at the entrance. Her formerly all-white dress had been exchanged for a cream-colored shirt and a purple dress that came down to just above her feet. She had also cut her hair so that it stopped just shy of her shoulders.

"No, no," Anjou denied. "This young man, Link, had just found Epona and had brought him back to the Ranch. We were just talking-"

"_Link_?" Malon restated, incredulous.

"Yeah," Link confirmed, scratching the back of his neck with his Stalfos hand, "Sorry for-"

"Show me the shield," she demanded, stepping forward menacingly.

The Hero took a step back, wanting more space, before relenting and summoning his shield. He assumed she had learned about it during the fight with the Raiders.

"It… it really is you…" she whispered, cerulean eyes misting over slightly before she took another step forward and slapped him across the face. He reeled, more surprised at how much it stung than anything. "What took you so long! It's been seven _years_, Link! Do you know how much you've missed! A year after you left, Ganondorf took over the entire kingdom and Castle Town got completely razed! Everyone had already moved into Kakariko, but the well had long since dried up, so nobody can get drinking water. Then the demons took up residence in Hyrule Field and the old Ranch, making living here even harder… and more importantly, everyone's lost loved ones. And now, _now_ you decide to show up. Of _course_ you choose now to show up!"

"In my defense, Ganondorf locked me in the Temple of Time and didn't let me out for seven years," Link tried to explain. "It was either that, or he'd have caused even more suffering than he already has."

"Da," Ivan chimed in. "Everything Link has said is true. Please believe us."

Malon's features softened somewhat. "I'm not forgiving you."

"You don't have to right now," Link said. "You can forgive me after I kill the dragon that's causing Death Mountain to constantly erupt. It's causing clouds of ash that kill all the crops, right?"

The farmer blinked. "Why do you seem to know everything?"

"Ivan helps."

They stayed like that for some time. Epona trotted off further into the farm.

"I'm sorry for yelling earlier," Malon apologized. "I'm just stressed out about the Ranch, about Kakariko, about Hyrule… about everything, I guess."

"If you weren't, I'd be worried," Link grinned weakly. "But it'll be okay. I have to take care of some stuff back in Kokiri Forest before I can tackle the Fire Temple in Death Mountain, but as soon as that's done, I'll be back. Things will get better. I promise."

He tugged Malon into an embrace, which she returned in kind. It felt right.

Anjou coughed conspicuously, drawing Link and Malon back into the real world.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," the older woman said, "but we probably ought to turn in for the night. Link, would you care to stay for supper?"

"No thank you," the Hero declined. "The sooner I get moving, the better. Also, before I forget, Anjou, your brother is in the Lost Woods. Could I borrow Cojiro to get him to get out before he becomes a literal pile of bones?"

Malon's friend blinked. "How do you know that?"

"He's Link," Malon explained simply. "It's probably because his dad is a tree."

"Don't be like that!" Link exclaimed, mock affronted. "Anyway, I'll be back in a few days or so. I really need to get moving. Nice talking to you, though."

"Wait! Don't you want me to get Cojiro?"

**!0*0!**

One blue cucco, one confusing race, and one time paradox later, Link exited Kakariko Village. Malon had been gracious enough to lend him Epona to get to Kokiri Forest faster, on the express condition that he was to bring her back as soon as possible. The Hero had accepted graciously, knowing that Epona would make it back to the town just fine without his supervision.

Now he was standing at the entrance to the Lost Woods, having sent Epona back to Kakariko. He knew that the Kokiri village would be overrun by giant Deku Babas and Mad Scrubs, and he knew that it was caused by the corruption in the Forest Temple. All he had to do was set things right.

Link took a deep breath, crossed the rickety bridge to the village, and stepped inside.

To his lack of surprise, it was overrun by giant Deku Babas and Mad Scrubs, but there were also a few Moblin encampments scattered throughout the place. The forest children were hiding in their houses, terrified of the aberrant forms that plagued their haven.

"To see the forest in this state… It's horrifying," Ivan lamented.

Link agreed with a nod before drawing the Master Sword, silvery blade cutting through the monsters that had taken over the Lost Woods. All the while, Link was dreading the moment when he'd start feeling that headache again, the one that heralded his transformation into a Stalfos. Fortunately, the feeling never reared its head; evidently, the Great Deku Tree's blessing extended even past its own death.

An hour later or so, Link's entire being was soaked in violet blood. Fortunately, this new tunic was stain-proof as well as waterproof, or else the Hero would have a massive problem. But it didn't matter. The demons were all dead.

He knew he had to go into the Lost Woods to get to the Forest Temple, but it was nearly midnight, and even the Hero of Time was not immune to tiredness. Link staggered sleepily to the tree house of his youth, clambered up the stairs, and set himself down by the infinitesimal wooden bed, as it was too small for him to adequately sleep on.

"Hey! You can't be in here! This is Link's house!"

Link cracked his other eye open and instantly noticed Fado storming over to him. Evidently, she had been inside the house when Link arrived, and he just hadn't seen her.

"Well, what are you waiting for, you big bully? Get out! Go turn into a Stalfos somewhere else!"

Link chuckled morosely. "Hi, pot, I'm kettle. And I'm not turning into a Stalfos anytime soon."

"You already are! Or are you dumb as well as big?"

The Kokiri were just like Hylian children; they were loud, obnoxious, and had no idea of how anything they said affected anyone else.

"Oh, are you referring to my hand? It's always been like that. It's been like that for the last seven years," Link explained.

"Well, you still can't be here! Even with the Kokiri-like clothes, this is _Link_'s house! When he gets back, he's going to be oh, so mad, and he's going to beat you up so bad that your _ancestors_ are going to cringe!"

Ivan laughed, garnering the attention of Fado's green fairy. The sprites spent a bit of time chatting, completely disregarding the shouting match going on between each of their partners. Eventually, Fado's fairy flew off and whispered something in the Kokiri's ear.

"Wait… that's Ivan?" she said, shocked.

"Yeah, that's Ivan," Link replied. "So now that that's out of the-"

"You _killed_ him!"

Link blinked. "Uh-"

"You killed Link! That's the only reason why Ivan would be following a disgusting _adult_ around! _Hey, everyone! This guy-_"

"I didn't kill Link, I _am_ Link!" Link shouted, cutting off the Kokiri girl.

Fado stopped dead. "No, you're not. Link is a Kokiri. Link wouldn't turn into a Stalfos like _you_."

"You want confirmation? Go get the Know-it-all Brothers," the Hero dared.

"Fine, then, I will!" the Kokiri said, storming out of the hut in a huff.

A pause ensued.

"Fifteen Rupees says she doesn't come back," Link bet.

"Ivan will take that bet and raise you to twenty," Ivan accepted.

**!0*0!**

Ivan owed Link twenty Rupees.

Link had stayed in that house for the better part of an hour, and Fado never came back. He had rested long enough during that time, so he figured it was time to progress onwards, into the Forest Temple. Or at least he would have, had Mido not decided to bar the way forward by the Rapid Transit to the entrance to Zora's Domain.

"Go away! Saria told me to not let anyone past!" Mido ordered, trying his best to sound threatening.

Link glanced at him drolly, before tugging his deep blue ocarina out of his pouch and playing Saria's Song.

The Kokiri Boss blinked. "That song… Saria only taught that song to her closest friends… Okay, I trust you. Even though you remind me of… him…"

"If only he knew," Ivan grunted.

Link just grinned, walking past the child and pushing deeper into the forest.

Eventually, he came across the Sacred Forest Meadow, which was overrun by moblins. The massive pig demons had taken to patrolling the maze-esque corridors of the center of the glade, probably to stop Link from entering the Forest Temple. Fortunately for the Hylian, they were rather dumb, and thus, Link found it easy to just kill them all with his Hookshot.

Their leader was no different, except instead of patrolling aimlessly, the Moblin Chief was sitting at the end of the Meadow and ramming his hammer into the ground, sending up plumes of dirt that would throw Link backwards.

Link zigzagged around the shockwaves before drawing the Master Sword and slicing the moblin to death. It wasn't long before the pig slumped over and swiftly decayed in a maelstrom of green fire.

Link's wallet was full again.

Finally, the Hero of Time found himself at the entrance to the Forest Temple. He wasn't expecting Saria to be waiting for him at the entrance to the Temple, so her absence wasn't as much of an emotional shock to him. Even still, Link slowly walked up to the rotting stump on which she had once sat and played her ocarina.

The sound of something hitting the forest floor caught his attention, and Link turned to see Zelda, in the guise of Sheik, appear in front of him. She looked at him morosely, as if to empathize with his pain over losing seven years of his life. But that wasn't his pain. He had dealt with that pain last time. His pain now was having to do everything over again, in a world that was both identical and alien.

"The flow of time is always cruel," the former princess began. "Its speed seems different for every person, but no one can change it…"

_And for a select few, it loops_, Link thought solemnly. _Forcing you to undergo the same trauma again and again. The flow of time _is _always cruel, but for me, it's better described as sadistic._

"Something that doesn't change with time is the memory of younger days… To come here again, play the Minuet of Forest…"

Sheik proceeded to pull a harp out of hammerspace and played the six-note song that would warp Link back to the Forest Temple. Link repeated it, memories of his playing it rushing back to the forefront of his mind. That was a sensation he'd never get used to.

Seeing that her job was done, the Sheikah stowed her harp away. "Link… I'll see you again… But before I go, can I ask you something?"

"What's this 'something'?" Link inquired.

"The plan was to _not_ open the Temple of Time, so that Ganondorf couldn't get to the Triforce," Sheik began.

_Oh, she's going _there, Link thought.

"You should know this, you were the one to suggest it," Zelda continued. "So, then, why did you let Ganondorf get the Triforce?"

Link stayed silent, his mind racing to find an answer that wouldn't involve the other timeline. He had decided long ago that revealing that the other timeline had existed would only cause suffering.

"I had… a premonition," he finally said. "That, in the long run, De- Ganondorf would cause more pain and suffering for the people of Hyrule if I didn't draw the Master Sword compared to what happened. I wish it didn't have to come to this. I'm sorry."

Tears began to fall from the corners of his eyes. Sheik stood silently a few feet away. Then, she took a few steps back. Link knew that trying to stop her was pointless, and as such, let her disappear in the flash of a Deku Nut.

Link slowly turned to the small tree that hung over the ruined entrance to the Temple, and then shot an overhanging branch with his Hookshot. The point stuck to the wood as it retracted, yanking Link upwards and just in front of the temple entrance. Comforted by Ivan's presence, the Hero walked forwards, head held high, into the sacred stone structure.

**A cookie to whoever can name where the Maoqiu, Kumangiriza, and Elder Skullfos came from! [Tip: They're all LOZ-related.]**

**NOOTTD: Anjou is not misspelled for Anju. I wanted the names to be similar-ish, but not the same, because Termina is an alternate reality that is completely separate from Hyrule.**

**Also, the taboo on Zelda's name makes sense, as it explains how Ganondorf knew where Zelda was as soon as she revealed herself to Link, as well as why she had to do in disguise for the entire time.**

**Anyway, that was Chapter 8. Chapter 9 will cover the Forest Temple. Don't forget to review!**


	10. Chapter 9: Nature's Revenge

**The Forest Temple. Everyone's favorite Ocarina of Time dungeon. Let's do this!**

**Also, the Elder Skullfos, Kumangiriza, and Maoqiu come from the rejected Breath of the Wild Guardian concepts. I'd post a link, but I can't because of FF dot net's filters. Screw the filters.**

**RRRP:**

_ChangelingRin (FF): _Okay, good. The last thing I wanted was to make you mad. ToM is Malink because that's my personal preference (and for the reasons stated in Chapter II), but it's perfectly easy to enjoy the fic without liking Malink all that much.

Regarding Demisedorf… well, there are two reasons. The first is that Link sort of blames himself for what happened and doesn't really want to talk about it, although he's not all that angsty about it for the second reason: He's in a really weird position. Keep in mind that Zelda had already sent him back once, and he sees it as having failed to save them. But now, pretty much everything is repeating itself in the same way. And Link thinks that if he goes through what he did last time and _doesn't_ change any of the grand swaths of the story, he can bring back the world he lost better than when it was when Zelda sent him back. Mentioning Demise to Zelda, or how Ganondorf threatened him with the slaughter of the Hyrulean people, may change her actions as time progresses, thus jeopardizing the world Link wants to recreate. Link does relate something a bit closer to what actually happened to other people, who won't really be able to change much in the grand scheme of things. It's selfish, sure, but that flaw makes Link more human, and I thought readers would be able to empathize with Link better if they didn't see him as an infallible hero (beyond all the swearing, of course.)

_Agent3Novi(AO3): _It makes me really happy that ToM affects you so!

_James Birdsong (FF): _Thanks!

**DISCLAIMER: I can't think of a funny and/or witty disclaimer, so I'm just going to say it: I don't own LOZ. Done. Can I stop doing these now? Yes? Cool.**

_Chapter IX: Temple of Trees_

The door was locked.

Link knew there was something on top of the two trees that stood on either side of the way forward, but the Hero was reasonably distracted by the two Wolfos that had appeared in front of him, howling madly. Fortunately, a quick dodge caused the wolves to expose their vulnerable backs, and were easily felled by the Hylian.

After the last Wolfos had dissolved into piles of green flame, Link set his attention on the wall to his left, which was covered in Skullwalltulas. Not wanting to deal with them, Link jogged over to the other side of the leftmost tree and climbed up the vines on that side. There weren't any Skulltulas on that side.

Link stepped onto the top of the tree and proceeded to almost jump to the branch of the rightmost tree before Ivan yelled at him to stop. Confused, Link did just that, only to nearly be slapped off the branch by a Big Skulltula. Silently thanking Ivan, Link retrieved his Hookshot and shot the giant spider, felling it instantly.

Now that that was out of the way, Link crossed the branches and stepped on the golden switch that rested on top of the rightmost tree. A chest dropped on the leftmost tree, which Link hookshotted to. The chest contained a small key, which Link used to open the door.

Behind the door was a Big Skulltula. The Hylian smirked, readying his Hookshot once again. Then another Skulltula nearly dropped on his head, and in his surprise, he shot it. Regaining his composure, Link killed both of the other two Big Skulltulas and a Golden Skulltula hiding behind some vines. That made twenty-three.

The next room was some kind of dark, large amphitheater. Four torches, burning red, blue, green, and purple were situated around some sort of elevator, but they soon went out and manifested as the four Poe Sisters. The ghosts then turned and flew off into different parts of the Forest Temple, laughing all the way. The elevator descended, preventing Link from venturing to the Boss Room.

There were five doors, excluding the one Link had walked through. One of them was out of reach. Two others were activated by conspicuous Eye Switches that were set above each door. Link wouldn't be able to enter them without the Bow and Arrows. One of them, Link knew from experience, lead to a dead end.

He decided to do the dead end first, as there was probably a key in there.

"Hey, Ivan?"

"Da?" Ivan replied.

"This room is kinda dark, do you think you could brighten up a bit?" Link asked. He wasn't concerned about the room; rather, he had noticed that Ivan didn't seem glow quite as bright recently.

"What is leetle man saying? Ivan can see just fine, and Ivan knows that you can too. Ivan will not waste energy engaging in such pointless activities. Ivan hopes you don't mind. Okay?"

"Fine," Link acquiesced, mentally noting Ivan's unwillingness to talk about it.

**!0*0!**

The last notes of the Song of Time exited the Ocarina of Time, as the Block of Time was teleported away from the Hero of Time. Behind the Block was a door, which Link strode over to and opened.

Walking through the door made it seal behind him, and a pack of Wolfos appeared, filling the air with their cacophonous cries. Link smirked, knowing that the Wolfos were weak, and brandished the Master Sword. The sacred blade whistled through the air, slaying or injuring any cursed wolves it touched. Ivan's Mind Hacking was extremely beneficial in the chaotic battleground, and it saved Link's live several times from any Wolfos that managed to sneak up behind him. Evidently, the seven-year gap had done wonders for the length of time that Ivan could hold something in stasis.

At least they weren't Stalfos. Like last time.

Eventually, the last Wolfos exploded into a shower of flames, and the door back to the central chamber reopened. A chest also appeared, which held a Small Key. Not done in the room just yet, Link smashed a few clay pots hiding in the back of the room and captured the singular pink Healing Fairy in a bottle.

It was time to go back, Link mused. So he did, soon finding himself back in that dark central chamber. Despite the lighting, it smelled of life, of nature slowly working itself into the temple, reclaiming it in the name of the woods. Fitting for a Forest Temple.

Link took a left and clambered up some stairs. He then opened the door, which closed and locked itself behind him. There was nothing in front of him, only a sealed door. He was in a hallway, and not a very long one, either. Cautiously, Link took a step forward, only to be caught off guard when a Stalfos leapt out of nowhere, brandishing a jagged copper sword. It towered over the Hylian by at least two heads, and as soon as it had appeared, the Stalfos was already leaping towards him, swinging its sword down over its head. Link barely had time to summon his shield, but he managed to get it between himself and the skeletal warrior. Unfortunately, the brutal hit made his Stalfos shield explode into a maelstrom of black diamonds, rendering it unsummonable for a time. The Hero soon found himself backed against the wall of the tiny corridor, the Stalfos shuffling towards him. Thinking quickly, Link ducked under the skeleton's guard and rammed his sword into its jugular. The Stalfos viciously shoved the Hero away before swinging its blade at him, succeeding in slashing Link across the ribs. Grunting in pain and cursing himself for being careless, Link attacked. The Stalfos jumped back before launching itself forwards again, expecting to execute a Jump Attack. Unfortunately for the Stalfos, however, Link was expecting it, and landed a Jump Attack of his own, nailing the Stalfos in midair. The skeleton fell to the stone ground, dazing it just long enough for the Hero of Time to charge and release a Spin Attack, felling the undead warrior.

Link's Stalfos hand twitched as the opposing skeleton dissolved into green flame. Hesitantly, the swordsman put his left hand closer to the flames, only for them to suddenly go out. Link noted that his dark magic was slightly replenished. Evidently, it could drain some of the dark energy of other Stalfos and add it to its own. Given that he didn't feel the twitch after killing other enemies, Link correctly assumed that his hand could only absorb Stalfos dark magic.

Link progressed through the now-open door, ending up in a confusing room full of ledges and thin hallways. Following a scratching noise to his right led the Hero to a Golden Skulltula, which he killed. He then glared at a diamond switch placed conspicuously on an upper balcony, blocked from his Hookshot by a strange, see-through crystalline substance. Deciding that he'd probably end up there later, Link instead climbed up a ladder and Hookshotted up another before continuing deeper into the miniature labyrinth, noting the grotesque sounds of Bubbles somewhere.

"Leetle man, look!" Ivan suddenly said. "There are arrows painted on this floor!"

"I see that you've taken to calling me "little man" again," Link grumbled.

"Da," Ivan confirmed. "It still suits you. Because even if you've been seventeen twice, you don't have a brain to match. Given what Ivan has seen, you act… about… thirteen or fourteen. And _Bogini_, does it explain your edginess."

"What the- I'm not _edgy!_" Link contested hotly.

"A rose will smell just as good if Ivan calls it a dead fish," Ivan countered. "It helps make you you. Ivan wouldn't worry about it."

Rolling his eyes good-naturedly, Link set his attention to the arrows. They started from a blue block that Link knew covered another hallway, then pointed down the hallway and to the left, but Link could see another blue block that Link could push. He knew that without the Silver Gauntlets, he wasn't quite strong enough to push two of these massive blocks. With that in mind, Link tugged at the closest block until he could slip past it into the other hallway. Once completed, Link ignored the ladder and continued forwards, turning left so that he was behind the other blue block. He pushed it into place, and then jumped on top of it, allowing him to ascend to the next level.

His path was immediately blocked by a red block, with the Gerudo insignia emblazoned on it. Grumbling, Link tried to push it out of his way, only to realize that it wouldn't budge.

"Maybe if you climb that ladder that was in the other hallway, you might find something," Ivan suggested.

"That's what I was just going to do," Link replied hotly, jumping back down into the maze. "Stop distracting me and let me finish this Temple already."

"And you say you aren't edgy!" Ivan yelled back, laughing.

"Shut up, Ivan!" the Hylian hollered.

Ivan stopped laughing and followed.

**!0*0!**

Link finally shoved the last red block into place. The issue was simply that there was another red block in between the first red block and the way forwards, and he just needed to drag it down the other hallway before doubling back and pushing the first block into place. The Hylian wiped his brow with the back of his hand, grumbling about the sweat that had accumulated there. He hauled himself up onto the block, and then used it as a stepping stone to enter the highest section of the room.

There was a gold floor switch right next to him. Curious, Link stepped on it, only for his right hand to collide with the sudden Hookshot panel pillar that arose from the ground right next to him. Looking down and to his right revealed that a series of Hookshot pillars had appeared, accompanied by several floating crystal lattices that created a path straight up to the ledge on which Link was standing. Appreciating the convenience of such a thing, Link turned left and clambered up another ladder, killing the pair of Bubbles that were guarding the door by bashing them with his shield. The Hero prepared to be disoriented by the twisted corridor that lay beyond the locked door in front of him, but fortunately for him, once the door unlocked and he walked through it, Link realized that the hallway was not, in fact, warped.

"Be careful, leetle man," Ivan said suddenly. "Wallmasters. You know what those are?"

"Yeah," Link confirmed. "I just gotta keep moving."

He grinned when he walked into the room and saw a gilded chest casually sitting on the floor below him. Link leapt down onto what would soon be the wall, shoved the chest open, and retrieved a Boss Key. Well, he could fight Phantom Ganon now, but that wouldn't help him until he got the Arrows.

The ethereal glow from the chest soon faded, and Link, who saw nothing else in the room around him, proceeded to jump down a hole in the floor. He fell into a room with only a sealed door, filled with the disgusting noises of a Floormaster. However, Link couldn't see the giant disembodied hand, and instantly worried that it was invisible. It was pitch black, Ivan's luminescence the only source of light in the room.

It turned out that he could see it, and that it had only been hiding in the darker corners of the chamber. Link only realized this when he saw it as a slightly darker patch amidst the blacks of the room. Blindly, Link charged up a Spin Attack, summoning his Shield for when the Floormaster decided to hurl itself at him. Eventually, it did, colliding with his shield with a resounding clang. Somehow the shield didn't break, but Link's dark magic had taken a huge hit. As soon as the Floormaster hit his shield, Link released the Spin Attack, forcing the hand to split into three smaller hands. As soon as it split, Link released Din's Fire to fry the smaller hands alive before they could reform.

**!0*0!**

The door near the back of the room opened, allowing warm sunlight to spill into the room. Link was sure to refill his magic with the several vials of magic that the Floormaster had dropped, fully replenishing all of his energy. Judging by the position of the sun in the sky of the courtyard, it was about three o'clock.

The Hylian and his fairy pressed onwards, taking a left into another dark room. Once again, the only reason Link could see anything was due to the light Ivan passively emitted. Unlike the other room, however, this smaller room was filled with the telltale moans of a Redead. Thinking quickly, Link pressed the Ocarina of Time to his lips and played the Sun's Song, its notes soothing the undead soul and freezing it in place. With that done, Link unsheathed the Master Sword and started hacking away at the wooden corpse, eventually causing the monstrosity to crumple to its knees, twitching occasionally in its death throes.

The door behind him opened, and Link retrieved a key from the chest that had appeared in the wake of the Redead's death. Seeing that his job was done in that room, Link exited, and pondered jumping down into the grove below. It was either that, or go through the door to his right and hit that switch that he couldn't reach before.

The clearing beneath him, on closer inspection, only had the exit to that well section, some ruins that didn't hold anything, and a vine-covered wall that led to another door- only it was blocked by a large spider web that Link couldn't burn because he had no access to fire up that high. Therefore, Link decided to walk through the closer door, hitting the diamond switch with a resonating _kreeng_. Just after the distinctive sound, Link heard the whole of the Temple utter a cacophonous groan, as ancient stone shifted with the machinations of the mechanism.

"What just happened?" Ivan pondered.

"If my hunch is right, that hallway from earlier just twisted," Link answered. "We'll have to backtrack."

"But… how does that help?"

"You'll see, Ivan!" Link said, turning around and walking through the door into the courtyard. He jumped down off the ledge into a small pond, summoning his shield when several Octoroks appeared, and then hauled himself out of the water, running over to the door and throwing himself through it.

The door sealed itself behind Link, and the Hero found himself back in the central room. He shook himself in an effort to fling all the cold water off of his skin before going back to the maze room. Using the new Hookshot panels and crystal platforms, Link easily scaled the room and, after killing the Bubbles again, entered the twisted hallway.

As the Hylian predicted, the hallway was warped now. The floor appeared to smoothly rotate ninety degrees so that it was on the right wall.

"Okay… but… this doesn't help us!" Ivan argued. "We're just going to walk on what was once the wall!"

"That's the idea!" Link yelled back, having already walked down the hallway. From his perspective, Ivan was now floating sideways above the left wall. "I forgot to mention that this hallway fucks with gravity!"

"Watch your language, leetle man!" Ivan hollered before fluttering over to Link, struggling to adjust to the gravity change. Now that the room was on its side, Link could jump over to a locked door, and using a key, could open the door, stepping into a dark room with a staircase and several paintings of one of those Poe Sisters. It was the red one. What was her name? Jail? Joel? It didn't matter. He couldn't fight her until he had the Bow, after all.

Link ignored the stairs in favor of backflipping over the railing, much to his fairy's chagrin. Eventually, Link made it to another door, which was fortunately unlocked, as he had no keys left. Unsheathing his sword prematurely, Link walked into the dark room.

A Stalfos leapt out of the large hole in the ground. Upon closer inspection, it led to that other room with the Wolfos in it. The skeleton brandished its sword and shield before charging at Link at full speed, jagged, coppery blade raised for the kill.

The Hylian habitually flipped his sword in his hands, summoning his Shield and managing to bash the Stalfos over the cranium with it. It staggered back a bit before attempting to stab its opponent. Link sidestepped the blow and retaliated with a powerful, two-armed chop, severing the Stalfos' neck.

The good thing about the Stalfos Shield was that, unlike the Hylian and Mirror Shields, the magic shield didn't encumber his left hand. This meant that he could generate more strength with the Master Sword and- theoretically- use the Biggoron Sword without having to sacrifice his Shield. Of course, there was the issue of it exploding very easily, but with all pros came cons.

As if reacting to the Stalfos' defeat, a large platform collided with the hole in the floor, sealing it, and two more Stalfos emerged. Grinning sadistically, Link rushed to meet them, calling on Ivan to Mind Hack one of them and give him time to deal with the other.

The holy blade and cursed sword connected in a crossbuck, as both the undead and living combatants struggled against each other. From what little of his consciousness was dedicated to sound outside of the grating of steel on steel, Link could hear Ivan yelling that his Mind Hacking was about to expire. Upon hearing that, the Hylian forced his blade to point towards the Stalfos' neck, pouring all of his energy into forcing the skeleton's blade back. Once in prime position, Link thrust forwards, the Master Sword grinding against the Stalfos' before finding its mark in the skeleton's jugular. This blow forced the skeleton to stagger backwards, giving Link the opportunity to throw a Deku Nut, stunning the Stalfos and allowing Link to follow up with a jumping slash, killing the un-Mind Hacked Stalfos. Seeing that one of the skeletal warriors was downed, Link turned his attention to the other being just as Ivan's Mind Hacking gave out.

The Stalfos immediately began sidestepping around Link, keeping its guard up. Link did the same, to avoid being outflanked by his opponent. He was patient, knowing that the Stalfos would eventually attack.

Except, oddly, it kept on strafing around him, keeping its shield out in front of it to prevent Link from attacking. The Hylian knew that he couldn't stay here forever, so he dispelled his shield, hoping to incur an attack.

The Stalfos attacked, but Link hardly expected it to randomly charge him, bashing his head with its armored shoulder. Regrettably, Link had missed the timing for a Backapparate, not allowing him to capitalize on the attack. A sticky, warm substance started oozing from Link's nose, and an experimental prod confirmed that it was blood. Feeling at the tip of his nose ensured that Link's prognosis was correct; the Stalfos had succeeded in breaking his nose.

Another attack arced towards Link from above, but his instincts kicked in and the Hylian scrambled out of range before charging back in and stepping on the Stalfos' blade, as it was now below his knees. Having essentially disarmed the skeleton, Link proceeded to swing the Master Sword through both of its forearms and then brutally decapitating it, allowing the offending bonepile to dissolve into a green fire.

Now that his job was complete, the doors opened. A chest appeared in the center of the room, and Link, convinced that it was the Fairy Bow, ecstatically opened the chest and unboxed the elegant ranged weapon. There was also a quiver of thirty slender, straight arrows in the chest, which Link graciously took. Now properly equipped, Link ran back into the rightmost staircase room, notated by the Joel pictures and the red carpet.

**!0*0!**

Killing the Red Poe had yielded a Dungeon Map, and killing the Blue Poe had revealed a Compass. Unfortunately, the door out of the leftmost staircase was locked, and Link didn't have any keys with which to open the door. Link consulted his compass to ensure that he hadn't missed anything. And, lo and behold, there were two objects hiding inside of the well and in that courtyard that Link had yet to explore. Coming to a decision, Link backtracked all the way back to the original central chamber before taking a soft right, heading towards the leftmost sealed door. Taking aim, Link attempted to shoot the gold eye switch above the door, only to miss horrendously several times in a row.

He blamed Navi.

Eight arrows later, the Hylian finally hit the gold switch. This caused the great gold eye to squeeze shut, causing the door to open. Triumphant, the Hero of Time ran through the door before being assaulted by a Giant Deku Baba, which only succeeded in biting a lock of Link's hair off of his head and chewing it to pieces.

"You little s-" Link started, cutting himself off at Ivan's disapproving glare. He then proceeded to ram the Master Sword down the carnivorous plant's gullet, making it explode into a pile of Deku Nuts, which Link pocketed.

The courtyard was now silent save an odd scratching noise. Link looked around, and only saw a few Blocks of Time suspended in the air. Two were located by the small hill separated from the rest of the courtyard by a little stream, and there was a third situated between a vine-covered section of wall and the door. There was also a well tucked away, but Link would need to step on a red button somewhere to drain it. It was late evening, nearly night.

"Okay, that scratching is really messing with my ability to concentrate," Link grumbled, scanning the room again for the source of the offending sound. Eventually, he noticed a Golden Skulltula perched on the stone outlet covering the door, and the Hylian slayed it with his Hookshot. The skull-shaped spider fell to the earth, writhing in agony and revealing that it had situated itself on top of a Hookshot panel. Thanking Farore, Link raised his hookshot once again and used the chain to yank himself up on top of the little outlet. From there, Link thought he could jump to the Block of Time, only to miss by a rather large margin. It was only after the fact that Ivan decided to help, flying over to just in front of the outlet and turning green. Returning to the top of the alcove, Link played the Song of Time, causing another two blocks to appear. He jumped to on top of one, played the Song of Time again, and then jumped across to the newly spawned Block of Time. He then shot the Skullwalltula that was patrolling the vines before Hookshotting onto the vines and clambering into one of the balconies. There was a chest, in which there was a small key.

The Hero of Time knew that he would need more than one small key, and he also knew that there was another key in the chest just on the hill. He knew that he couldn't reach it from the balcony, so he had to reach it in some other way.

Deciding that he would deal with it later, Link opted to Hookshot to the other balcony, going through the door. Inside was a lit torch, a Giant Skulltula, and a massive cobweb. Link killed two Keese with one stone, and shot an arrow through the torch at the web, lighting both it and the Skulltula it was attached to. Now there was a way between the two courtyards… but that didn't help him at all! He needed another small key, because there were two doors separating Link from the last room on the second floor, and both of them were probably locked. So he either had to get the chest on the island or the chest at the bottom of the well, neither of which he could appear to access!

With a groan of frustration, Link retreated back into the left courtyard and sat himself down on the cold stone steps, puzzled, before he had an epiphany.

"Oh, I see!" Link thought aloud, standing. He pulled out his Hookshot and aimed for the chest up on the island. The little red laser that accompanied the hookshot was dim, meaning that the chest was out of range.

"Come on, I can totally Hookshot to that!" Link said through gritted teeth, trying again from a different spot.

"Uh, Ivan does not think Link can get to that chest," Ivan noted.

"Shut up, Ivan! I can totally hookshot over there!" Link refuted, trying again.

He tried again. And again, And again. And again.

Dusk turned to night. Night turned to midnight. It was only at the break of dawn that Link gave up, angrily flinging the Hookshot into the corner before dejectedly walking over and picking it up again.

"How am I supposed to do this!" the Hylian screamed. "Do I need to go get the goddamn Iron Boots?!"

"Language!" Ivan chastised. "Leetle man is tired. Take a break. Ivan will get you some water from the well."

"It's fine. I have some water in my canteen," Link tried to object before realizing that his canteen was, in fact, empty. "Never mind, I don't have water in my canteen."

The fairy snatched the sack from his partner and struggled to fly across the courtyard. When he didn't come back, Link looked up, confused, at his fairy staring open-mouthed at the well.

Ivan looked up at the Hylian. "Link, promise Ivan that you won't get mad."

"Did you drop the canteen?"

"No," Ivan said. "It's just… well… there's an eye switch inside of the well."

Link stood motionless, staring at Ivan from across the courtyard. His eye twitched. Then it twitched again. He let out an odd breath…

And started laughing. _Hard._

Soon, Link was doubled over, collapsed on the ground, tears of hilarity streaming from his eyes as he laughed at the sheer insanity of the reversed dungeon. Eventually, he got over his laughing fit, retrieved his Hookshot, and then walked over to the well entrance. Sure enough, an eye switch was just sitting there, about eight feet below the surface. It was easy enough to shoot with the Fairy Bow.

Once the eye closed, the water level in the well started rapidly decreasing, allowing Link to jump inside. At the bottom of the weill was a tiny stream and a chest, which contained a small key. Link grabbed the key, refilled his canteen, partook of the water from the stream, and then killed a Golden Skulltula. He then climbed out the other side, in the right-side courtyard, and walked back into the central chamber.

"I hate this place," he sighed.

Now came the chore of walking all the way back to the second floor of the dungeon.

**!0*0!**

The locked door opened, and Link found himself in a cube-shaped room. The green Bubbles outside hadn't been much of a problem. This room contained four pillars rotating around a fifth, which had a blue switch and an unlit torch on it. The pillars were situated inside of some sort of red substance which almost looked like lava. There was also a silver eye switch, but it was frozen over.

Link looked at the raised section of floor just under the eye switch and noticed a wooden crate. Instantly, he knew what to do. The Hylian deftly jumped over to the column, grabbed the box, and then jumped onto the central pillar, setting it down on the blue switch.

The switch caused the torch to light. Link then hopped onto one of the rotating platforms, and aimed for the eye switch. He waited for just the right time, and then fired. The arrow sailed through the flames, lighting the arrow on fire before it hit the eye switch dead on. The ice melted and the eye snapped shut, accompanied by the harsh grating of ancient machinery doing its job. He knew from experience that the hallway back had just rotated.

Link confidently turned back to the door- only to find that it was sealed off by a crystal structure. Was there something he had to kill in the room. Link couldn't see anything, and there wasn't any distinctive flapping that would identify invisible Keese. He prayed to Farore that there weren't invisible enemies.

His prayers went answered, as careful scouring of the room revealed no such beasts. Now truly confounded, the Hero of Time contemplated the conundrum. Was it triggered by shooting the eye? Possible, but Link doubted it. Maybe the crystal wall was destructible by bombs? No such luck; explosives seemed to do nothing to it. Sword slashes had a similar effect, and Link couldn't Backapparate behind it because there weren't any enemies to hit him.

So what else had changed? The only thing Link could think of was that the blue switch had compressed. Figuring that it was worth a shot, Link hopped to the central pillar and kicked the box into the red liquid, causing the crate to disintegrate.

Lo and behold, the crystalline lattice soon dissipated.

"Very good!" Ivan encouraged, urging Link onwards.

The hallway back was all twisted, allowing the Hero and his partner to walk, or fly in Ivan's case, on what was once the wall. This allowed them to fall down a hole and back to the first floor, into a long room with a checkerboard floor.

"Watch out! The ceiling is falling down!" Ivan warned before parts of the roof started shaking violently. Just a few feet in front of Link, the entirety of the ceiling collapsed, falling onto the floor before raising up again. Ignoring it entirely, Link instead took a left and walked down a smaller hallway, only to come to a sealed door. He'd probably need to press a button or something in the hallway.

Judging by the shadows on the floor in the large room, there were at least ten giant Skulltulas perched in the stronger parts of the roof. They wouldn't fall and crush their skeletal residents. With this in mind, Link pulled out his bow and started shooting, each arrow causing the death of a skeletal spider. There weren't all that many; Link estimated that there were seven or eight. He waited patiently for the ceiling to fall again and, once it had risen, Link dashed across the room and stepped on a gold switch.

Even from all the way down the hallway, Link could tell that the previously locked door had unlocked. Stepping on the other switch caused a chest to fall. The chest contained five arrows.

Soon, Link found himself back in the leftmost courtyard, on a little ledge that overlooked the previously inaccessible island hill. There were two Song of Time blocks, three if you counted the one that hadn't been summoned yet. Ignoring the Blocks, Link jumped down onto the island, killed the small Deku Baba, and opened the chest that he had tried to Hookshot to ages ago, revealing the small key needed to progress.

Now came the puzzle of getting back up again.

Link clambered on top of the lowest Song of Time block and played the Song of Time. This caused another Block of Time to appear in front of him, but it also caused the Block of Time closest to the ledge to disappear. Link guessed that he could probably jump from block to block, so he climbed onto the new Block and played the Song again. This caused the lowest Block of Time to teleport to the ledge, allowing the Hero to jump back into the hallway with the collapsing ceiling.

This time, Link was able to unlock the door out of the hallway, and progress into the next room. This room had a massive painting of the green Poe in it, as well as five stone blocks suspended in space above him. Knowing what he had to do, Link pulled out the Fairy Bow and shot the painting right in the eye. The stone cubes shook a little before falling to the ground. He only had a minute, so the Hylian needed to act fast. He quickly shoved a blue block out of the way before jumping on top of it, seeing which blocks would need to go where. With this knowledge in mind, it was pathetically easy to push the stones into position.

Once the blocks were arranged in the correct pattern, they assimilated with the floor and the Green Poe was left in their wake. She was easy enough to kill.

The next room had… absolutely nothing in it. Surprised and thankful, Link continued further into the dungeon, arriving back at the central room. The green torch was lit.

This time, however, the Purple Poe was there, convulsing in the center of the room. Readying his Fairy Bow, the Hero vaulted over the railing and down into the center of the room, nocking an arrow as he approached the vengeful ghost.

The spirit had other ideas, though, as she proceeded to split into four copies of herself and surround Link with them. All of them were rotating around him, spinning on an identical axis, save the one that was spinning the opposite way. Smirking in superiority, Link loosed an arrow into the odd Poe out. The copies coalesced with the ghost as it disappeared, only to appear again a few meters away. It was the same procedure; just shoot the odd one out.

Eventually, the Purple Poe disintegrated into nothingness, its lantern breaking. The purple torch lit once more, and the stone elevator reappeared. Stepping into the structure caused it to descend into the bottom floor, which was some kind of carousel. There were two entryways, both of which were sealed with an iron gate.

Link ran up to one of the protrusions in the wall and pushed. The entire room rotated forty-five degrees clockwise, revealing a new room just behind Link. Inside, there was a chest that contained more than enough Arrows to refill Link's quiver. The room held nothing else, so Link once again rotated the room clockwise. This door was also sealed, but there was a diamond switch just in front of it, which Link activated with the Hookshot. Triggering the switch caused the iron gate to descend, allowing the Hero of Time to step on the gold button inside. He heard another iron gate lower somewhere, but he wasn't sure where.

So he pushed the room again. The last little alcove contained some Giant Skulltulas, a Golden Skulltula, and three pots, which had Rupees and a Fairy inside. Finally, Link pushed the room back to its original position. He noticed that the iron gates barring him from the alcove that wasn't the Boss Room was open now, and he walked inside to find…

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Link looked around. The room was barren. Maybe he missed something in one of the other spots? Probably. He made to leave, but he noticed an eye switch hidden just above the entryway. Grumbling, Link shot it, causing the last iron gate to open. Finally able to fight Ganon's Phantom, Link pushed forwards, unlocking the door with the Boss Key and stepping inside.

But first, he took the time to appreciate the art that lined the walls of the short hallway.

"These paintings are very avant-garde," Link noted. "Ivan, once all this is over, you'll have to remind me to come back here and take some."

"Ivan does not think the Kokiri would appreciate that," Ivan refuted. "Besides, all these paintings are really edgy."

"For the last time, Ivan, I'm not _edgy_!" Link complained, finally entering the final chamber.

**!0*0!**

Iron pikes jutted out of the stairwell, preventing Link from retreating back into the Forest Temple. He heard a snort. Despite knowing exactly what was coming, Link was still shocked to see Ganondorf on his horse, just kind of sitting there.

"How did he get there?" Ivan exclaimed.

"This isn't the real Ganondorf!" Link explained. "This is only his phantom. An evil spirit from beyond!"

The Ganondorf brought his right hand in front of its face as it erupted into a blue flame. The mask of humanity melted away, leaving only a skeletal skull with horns and glowing, hate-filled golden eyes. Then his horse started floating, as Phantom Ganon brandished its trident before galloping straight _into_ a painting through a portal the color of suffering.

Link could only stare as Phantom Ganon galloped out of sight into the painting. As soon as it disappeared, though, it came back, galloping into the foreground with a bone-chilling chortle.

He could do this. He just needed to find the one that was brighter. Everything was-

Link turned to see that the other Phantom Ganons were all the same shade. And that all six paintings had a Phantom Ganon in it.

Great. Now what?

The sound of the horse's hoof steps were coming from his left, so Link dove to the right as five of the Ganons turned back into their paintings. The sixth, the leftmost one, jumped out of the painting and released a huge electric explosion, electric tendrils crawling all over the floor. Link was barely able to summon his shield in time, which somehow deflected the blow without exploding. But Link's dark magic reserves were nearly spent.

The Ganons were back again, and Link focused his attention on the sounds each Ganon made. It sounded like it was coming from one of the northern paintings, so Link focused his attention on those. Sure enough, the specter emerged from the northmost painting - only to be greeted by an arrow to the cranium. Grunting in agony, Phantom Ganon receded back into the painting and returned the way he came, later coming back in absolute silence. Now how was Link supposed to determine which one was real?

He looked at all of the Ganons, instantly finding the brightest one and loosing an arrow at it as soon as it emerged from the painting. It gave a morbid laugh as it regressed back into the painting.

Link knew he was coming, the auditory cues told him as much. However, he couldn't even _see_ Phantom Ganon in any of the paintings. Trusting his ears, Link aimed at a painting and loosed an arrow when Phantom Ganon suddenly became visible.

This time, only the horse regressed into the painting. Phantom Ganon itself, however, remained floating there, trident pouring magical energy. It brandished the trident, flinging a torrent of magic in the form of an electric ball. Link slapped it away with the Master Sword, only for it to fly nearly forty-five degrees off of its intended course. Nevertheless, the ghost attacked again, allowing Link to whack it back at Ganon. The hit connected, forcing a wounded Ganon to fall down to the stone floor. The Hero of Time wasted no time in driving the sword into his cranium as much as possible. The phantom soon recovered, however, and launched itself into the air while knocking Link away.

The Hero and the specter traded blows, each hitting an electric ball back at each other. At this point, the ball was whizzing between them at about fifty miles an hour, and Link didn't want to give first.

So he didn't.

As soon as he slapped the ball away, he readied his Hookshot. Once Phantom Ganon hit the ball again, Link hit the ball with the Hookshot just a few feet from Ganon's face. The ghost had no time to react and fell once more, allowing Link to administer the coup de grace.

The spirit writhed in agony, somewhat dissolving into a pile of blue flames. It lifted off of the ground, still twitching in its death throes.

"Hey, kid, you did quite well… it looks like you may be gaining some tiny modicum of skill…" Ganondorf's gravelly voice emanated. Instinctually, Link tightened the grip on the Master Sword, choruses of _Demise_ coursing through his brain.

"But you have defeated only my phantom… When you fight the real me, it won't be so easy!"

"If anything, it'll be easier, Ganonwhoref!" Link shouted.

"Watch your tongue!" Ganondorf's disembodied voice shot back. "I could kill you at any instant! The only reason you are alive right now is because I want your death to be slow and painful! Bah! What a worthless creation that phantom was! I will banish it to the gap between dimensions!"

Meanwhile, Phantom Ganon was writing in agony as it was slowly sucked into an oozing black portal, leaving nothing in its wake. Once it was finally gone, Link wiped the sweat from his brow and stepped into the blue, diamond-shaped portal, whisking him away to the Sacred Realm.

**!0*0!**

The light dropped him off in front of the Deku Tree. He fingered Saria's Medallion absentmindedly before stowing away his Fairy Bow. Link looked at the Deku Tree Sprout, knowing that it would emerge soon and not wanting to be startled by it like last time.

So he was confused when it didn't emerge. Link approached, cautious. But when he was only a few feet from the sprout, the entire head of the new Deku Tree emerged, throwing Link off of his balance and making him land on his back in the most undignified manner possible.

"Hi there! I'm the Deku Tree Sprout! Because you and Saria broke the curse on the Great Deku Tree, I can grow and flourish! Thanks a lot!"

"It's nothing," Link tried to correct, only for the Deku Tree to ignore him.

"Hey, have you seen your old friends? None of them recognized you with your grown-up body, did they?"

"No, they did," Link corrected. "They know Ivan."

"Da!" Ivan chimed in.

Anyway, Link, I suppose I ought to tell you something-"

"That I'm Hylian?" Link answered. "We knew that. Kokiri don't age, so I can't be a Kokiri because I no longer have the body of a ten-year-old."

"Yes, actually!" the Deku Tree Sprout said. "Wait… Ivan, I really need to talk to you. I'm sorry we couldn't have told you that. You know the ramifications of… well…"

"Ivan knows the risks," the sprite assured cryptically, "but leetle tree cannot stop Ivan."

"Very well," the Deku Tree Sprout surrendered. "There's also something else. Something that I've been debating whether or not to give you. But since you seem more mature than expected, here."

A rustling sound came from overhead, and something fell just in front of the Deku Tree Sprout. It was some kind of silver medallion. Link picked it up, fingers running over the word "Hyrule".

"This was on the body of your late mother," the Sprout revealed. "She wanted it to be given to you when you were of age. As… something to remember your father by."

Link stared at the medal with a newfound wonder. "So my father served Hyrule?"

"Yup!" the Deku Tree laughed. "Hyrule was the country he was a knight of. I think. Your father's name is Arn. It's on the other side."

Sure enough, the name 'Arn' was engraved into the other side of the medal, as were a few other glyphs too small for Link to decipher.

A smile graced Link's features, the first genuine one in who knows how long. "I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to," the Deku Tree Sprout replied. "Being alive is thanks enough. Feel free to come back any time!"

Link continued grinning as he sauntered out of the Deku Tree's grove. Then he remembered something and slapped himself on the forehead, running into the Lost Woods and taking a right.

The Hero ended up in a small clearing, where he had once played Saria's Song for a Skull Kid. The wooden gremlin was absent, however; in his place was a pale, pasty, hunched-over Hylian. Knowing what to do, Link pulled Cojiro out of hammerspace. Upon seeing its keeper, the blue Cucco uttered a mighty crow, instantly changing its demeanor.

The fellow reacted instantly, raising his head and staring at Link with unbridled emotion. "You… Cojiro! Then… you must be a nice guy! Mr. Nice Guy! You have to-"

"I'm not wasting my time with a goddamn _mushroom_," Link said, cutting off the other Hylian. "You're coming with me."

"No! No, no, no, no, no!" the man started yelling, writhing on the earth like he was having some sort of epileptic fit. "You're not a nice guy! You're disgusting! Just like everyone else!"

"Look, if you stay here, you'll turn into a Stalfos," Link tried to reason, showing his Stalfos Hand to back him up. "That's more disgusting than any living person could be. So either we leave the forest and go see your sister, or I drag you out of the forest and we go see your sister. Okay? Good."

With that, Link grabbed the man by the scruff of his neck and lugged him out of the clearing.

"And while you're at it, put a shirt on!"

**!0*0!**

The reunion of Anjou and her brother was surprisingly heartfelt, given how violently the man had reacted beforehand. It was better than turning into a Stalfos by a long shot.

"Thank you so much, mister Link," the red-haired woman said to him. "I wish I could repay you with something, anything, but… well, we don't have much."

"It's fine," Link assured, looking around aimlessly. "I don't really need anything. Well, actually… there's something that your dad has that I need, but I'm not quite sure how I should get it from him… Maybe that saw?"

"But this is the only thing I have of Mother!" Anjou's brother vetoed, scandalized. "I can't part with it!"

_Well, this is a conundrum._

"I'll figure something out, I guess," Link said. "It's fine. I'll be heading out, I'll drop by again tomorrow. Sound good?"

"Oh, no, you're not!" another voice rang out. "You just got back, and I'm not letting you slip out of my sight again!"

"Malon, the sooner I leave, the sooner Death Mountain gets fixed," the Hero tried to explain. "I don't mean to be rude, but-"

"Well, you _are_ being rude!" Malon argued. "Is our hospitality not good enough for you? Huh? Is it?"

"The last time I let anyone be hospitable for me, they proceeded to die the next night in a fiery inferno. You know the one I'm talking about," Link spat. "I'll be back tomorrow."

With that, Link turned on his heel and stalked out of the Ranch, whistling Epona's Song so that the horse would follow.

But as soon as Link mounted Epona, the horse proceeded to turn around and walk back into New Lon Ranch. Confused, Link tried to spur his steed the other way, only for the mare to disregard him entirely.

"Good girl," Malon cooed, rubbing Epona's side before turning to the man riding her. "Look here, Fairy Boy. You know you're not the only one who's been suffering. But you've still been locked in the Temple of Time all this time, so you haven't seen what's happened.

"The smog from Death Mountain covers the entire village, almost blocking out the sun. It smothers the crops and starves them to their roots. We're living off the fortunately massive stores of foodstuffs preserved in Kakariko, but it won't last forever. The other towns aren't doing much better. The water from Zora's Domain is pure poison, completely undrinkable. Hyrule Field is filled with monsters, and we can hardly even go out of Kakariko without being assaulted. Old Lon Ranch is overrun. The Gorons haven't spoken to us, and neither have the Zora. Castle Town is a ruin. Everyone has lost hope. So don't give me this crap about not wanting to be rude. You've helped us, and it's only right that we help you too."

Link had never known Malon to be this _fierce_ about things in the other timeline. He liked it, although he didn't know why.

"Ivan agrees with Malon," Ivan added. "Leetle man deserves leetle break and a night's rest. Da?"

Link sighed in defeat. "Fine."

"Excellent!" the ranch girl said, losing all the anger she had once had in an instant. "Come inside!"

Reluctantly, Link forced his feet to move into the building, the door closing silently behind him.

**There's Chapter 9. Let's all be honest, Link deserves a break from hero-ing. Plus, the entire novel can't be just Link running around doing MQ dungeons.**

**NOOTTD: I don't think there was anything.**

**REVIEW PLEASE!**


	11. Chapter 10: Almost a Vacation

**This chapter is going to be a little more laid-back. Instead of jumping straight into the Fire Temple, Chapter 10 is going to be Link's day off in post-apocalyptic Kakariko. That's fun.**

**RRRP:**

_ChangelingRin (FF): _The Forest Temple is pretty maze-y, although Link already knows the basic layout. I never thought of it as a game of hide-and-seek, although now I can't get that out of my head. Honestly, MQ Forest Temple is the most boring one, at least in this fic; Deku Tree and Dodongo's Cavern have Link's confusion, Jabu Jabu has the cows, and the other adult era temples have other unique stuff that I pumped into them.

In truth, Ivan's always been weird. He hasn't really gotten himself into something unusual so much as the fact that it's only now that we're seeing it. This is actually based on a relatively little-known theory about the original game, though I'm not spoiling what. It's got a good payoff, though.

_Chapter X: A Rather Brief Break from Dungeon Crawling_

**!0*0!**

Link awoke the next morning, groggy and confused, before remembering that he was at New Lon Ranch. Malon and Anjou hadn't been kidding about hospitality; they had quickly converted an entire back room into a dormitory for Link and Ivan. Of course, Link had opted to sleep on the floor as opposed to in the actual bed because it was too soft, but neither Link nor Ivan minded. The sprite was especially happy with the situation, as he got to sleep inside of a comparatively huge bed.

He snacked on a shriveled apple from the Kokiri Forest before getting up and sipping water from his canteen. When the flow of liquid dried, the swordsman dressed himself, walked out of the room, and into the abandoned hallway.

The _crash_ of china breaking caused Link to turn. He saw that Anjou was also in the hallway, staring at him with her mouth slightly ajar. To be more accurate, she was staring at his Stalfos hand.

"Uh, Link?" the woman said quietly.

"Okay, I know what you're thinking," Link said as placatingly as possible. "Yes, I'm part skeleton. Yes, I've had this for the last seven-odd years or so. Yes, it does let me use dark magic. No, it's not contagious. No, I am not going to hurt anyone with it. Unless they deserve it. Then I might."

"Oh, hey Link," Malon greeted as she walked past him. She clearly saw the Stalfos Hand, but since she had known about it beforehand, she didn't pay it too much thought.

"Malon has known about it for quite a while. Seven years, actually. So-"

"Oh… _oh! _I hadn't made the connection until just now! You're that _Fairy Boy_ she used to keep talking about!"

"Does she still use that nickname?" Link asked, hoping the answer would be no.

"Only when she's really mad at you," the redhead responded. "It used to happen more often a few years ago, before you came back. Then I think she accepted the fact that Talon was gone, and… well, she kind of stopped."

"I see," Link sighed. "I guess I should have grabbed my gloves on the way out. That's on me. I'm sorry for bothering you."

Before she could say anything more, Link had disappeared.

**!0*0!**

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Link said nonchalantly. "I'm saying hello to Epona."

"Yeah, it definitely doesn't look like you're about to hop on and gallop off," Malon shot back, flashing him a quick grin before schooling her expression, walking into the stable with a wagon full of hay. She dumped the hay in front of the few cows, which eagerly began to partake in their meal. On closer inspection, it became clear that it wasn't hay, but dead wheat from the farm.

Death Mountain had erupted earlier that morning, just before the dawn. The cacophonous explosion threw Link out of a nightmare, fortunately, only for him to mistake the ashes for falling snow. He was confused; it was nearly halfway through the summer! Why was it snowing? Then the Hero had realized that it was volcanic dust, and he understood.

The worst part was that nobody in Kakariko seemed to mind much. It was like this was a normal occurrence. Like the ring of fire around the volcano was normal. Like the overrun Hyrule Field was normal. Like this apocalyptic world was normal.

Another resounding rumble made Link flinch, right hand involuntarily reaching for the Master Sword that he had kept slung across his back. Malon didn't seem to hear it, only to see his expression and stance and give him a weary, sympathetic look.

"I keep forgetting that you left," she explained. "Everyone's gotten used to the eruptions. We set up massive ditches by the mouth of the volcano to keep the lava from falling into the village for now, but we're not sure when they'll give out. When they do, we're done for."

"And you have nowhere to go…" Ivan realized. "Ah. That sounds like a problem."

"Commander Rusl says that we could maybe get to Labrynna through the mountains," Malon informed. "But nobody knows for sure."

"Maybe," Link said wistfully. "You know, I've heard a lot about this Commander Rusl. Where can I find him?"

"He's not going to meet you," the ranch girl said. "He's busy trying to find a safe route through the mountains."

"So… I can talk to him after the Fire Temple," Link assumed. "Got it."

"Ivan does not see why not."

They stood in companionable silence for a few minutes, before Malon turned and grabbed more dead grasses from her wagon, dumping it in front of the various livestock of New Lon Ranch. They ate and then dispersed.

"Here, let me help you with that," Link insisted, reaching for the now empty wheelbarrow that had once held the grasses.

Malon narrowed her eyes. "For the last time, Fairy Boy: you're the guest. You don't get to work. You get to sit back, relax, and take a break."

"With all due respect, Miss Malon," Ivan countered, "Link is more comfortable if he is doing something than if he is doing nothing, especially if that something helps another person. Therefore, relaxing for him would entail helping you."

The ranch girl seemed to consider it. "Fine. Just sidle it along that wall."

Link did so.

A resounding howl filled their ears, making Malon jump. At first Link assumed that she didn't know what it meant, but he was quickly proved wrong when the ranch girl sprang into action, grabbing a butcher's knife from behind the stable door and running outside.

"Anjou! It's another Wolfos pack! Go get Rusl!"

Vaguely, Link watched the older ranch hand sprint into the stable before jumping on top of a palomino horse and galloping into Kakariko proper.

"Don't just stand there, Fairy Boy! You said you wanted to help, so help!" Malon's voice rang out. Jostled from his stupor, the Hylian and his fairy proceeded to sprint out of the stables, sword drawn and shield summoned.

**!0*0!**

Link was greeted by no less than twenty-five Wolfos and Malon with a knife.

"What are you doing?" Link yelled. "Get inside! I'll take care of this!"

"Shut up, Fairy Boy! I've been doing this for the seven years you spent putzing around in the Temple of Time, twiddling your thumbs! You couldn't have broken out of one of the windows or something?"

"I wasn't technically- You know what? I'll tell you later!" Link yelled back. "We've got bigger fish to fry!"

The pack was nearly on them. It was clear that their target wasn't the Hylians; rather, it was the stable behind them that housed New Lon Ranch's livestock.

Link and Malon had situated themselves between the wolves and the stable door, forcing the Wolfos to fight through them. Their eyes gleamed with primordial hunger, and the desire to satisfy that hunger with blood.

Link cut down the first one, dodging another by inches as Ivan Mind Hacked a third, causing the Wolfos behind it to entangle itself with the mind controlled wolf. Neither were dead, but both were dazed and otherwise taken out of the fight.

Time passed. The Hero spared a glance to check on Malon, only to see that she was doing just fine. Her knife gleamed in the morning sun, or at least as much as it could gleam when it was coated in the crimson bodily fluids of her enemies. While her kill count wasn't quite as high as Link's, she was certainly doing work. He mentally noted once again to never get on Malon's bad side.

There were only a few Wolfos left. Three, to be exact. One of them was a rare White Wolfos with glowing red eyes. Link assumed that the White Wolfos was their pack leader, given that Wolfos packs were generally controlled by the strongest.

An arrow proceeded to sprout from the other two Wolfos' heads, each flailing madly before dying in a blue inferno. The albino wolf, upon seeing that its cohorts had all fallen to the two Hylians, howled in rage before turning and running in the opposite direction. From the corner of Link's eye, he could see several more armored Hylians arriving at the scene, a few wielding bows and arrows.

Link pulled out his Hookshot and latched onto the Wolfos' fur, yanking the Hero through the fields and onto the snow-colored wolf. Once he was within range, Link pulled out his Fairy Bow and loosed an arrow into the Wolfos' brain, killing it instantly. He then squatted by the corpse, lifting it over his shoulder as he returned to the Ranch. At the very least, they had scored some meat out of the attack.

Back at the Ranch, Link saw Malon, Anjou, and Anjou's brother talking with the armored men Link had noticed earlier. He correctly assumed that this was the Kakariko Guard that Anjou had mentioned, and that the fellow with the bow was this esteemed Commander Rusl everyone kept talking about. He was blond, and had an oddly square jaw, but it was clear beneath that calm countenance was the mind of a soldier.

"...fared better than last time, Miss," the Knight was saying.

"Thank you," Malon replied. "There were at least twenty of them. If it weren't for Link, it would have been much worse."

Even from across the farm, Link could see the knight's eyes narrow a bit. "Link?"

"Oh, you wouldn't know him. He's an old, _old_ friend of mine- There he is! Just across the field!"

Link waved, an awkward task given that he was still carrying the Wolfos.

Rusl turned to say a little bit more to Malon, but in such a hushed tone that Link couldn't quite hear him. The man probably didn't trust him, which Link could hardly judge. After all, it wasn't every day someone shows up with a Master Sword strapped to their back alongside a fairy, wearing typical Kokiri garb. It simply wasn't done.

"So you're this… Link?" Rusl said, careful to school his voice and expression.

"Yes," the Hero responded as soon as he was in earshot. "Let's get this out of the way: You don't trust me."

The guardsman blinked. "Am I so transparent? I must apologize. Newcomers are rather rare, except bandits. And that sword had me on edge."

"I suppose that makes sense," Link accepted. "No hard feelings."

"Anyway, I must commend you for your assistance," Rusl continued. "If you hadn't been here, who knows how bad it would have been."

"If I hadn't been here, none of it would have happened in the first place," the Hero of Time grumbled quietly.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Link hastened to say. "I'm just a bit on edge. Being locked in the Temple of Time will do that to you."

"Locked in the…"

"For seven years," Link confirmed. "I only just got out recently. I would have left earlier, but… well, the Master Sword didn't let me."

"... Aye," Rusl agreed hesitantly. "Now, I mu-"

Another cataclysmic _boom_ swept across the village, making Link jump instinctually. The volcano had had another minor eruption, but Malon, Anjou, and the Guard had acted like nothing had happened. Rusl just laughed.

"Wow! You really _aren't_ from around here!" he chuckled. "We've all grown used to the eruptions. I'm worried that one day, the volcano is going to really erupt and the lava will overwhelm our defenses. There's-"

"The eruptions are being caused by a resurrected ancient dragon," Link said automatically. "Just kill the dragon and you'll be fine."

The knight-captain blinked again. "Is he always like this?" he asked quietly, turning to Anjou.

"That's what Malon said," she replied in a similar tone. "According to her, he's a Kokiri, which explains the getup, but aren't they-"

"To answer your question, I'm adopted," the Hero drawled. "I'm actually Hylian. The Great Deku Tree told me a long time ago-"

"No he _didn't_," Ivan interjected, stiffening. "The Great Deku Tree told leetle man that yesterday."

"Semantics," Link replied. "Yeah, this is Ivan. He's my partner. I take it that's good enough proof that I'm not lying, or delusional, or both?"

"I suppose," Rusl sighed. "Well, seeing as everything is back under control here, my men and I should be returning to our posts. Let's head back."

At their captain's command, the Guards rotated on their heels and marched out of the Ranch.

Malon turned to face Link, with a grin that appeared sickeningly sweet. "So… you told me that Ganondorf locked you in the Temple of Time. But you just told Rusl that the sword wouldn't let you out. Link, I want an explanation."

"You have enough on your plate," Link replied callously.

"And one of those things is that my best friend doesn't seem to trust me," she shot back. "Explanation. Now."

Link sighed in defeat. "I wasn't lying. Seven years ago, De- Ganondorf told me that every day in which I refused to draw the Master Sword-" he showed her the sacred blade for emphasis- "he'd destroy a village and immolate everyone inside. Old Lon Ranch was… an example. Something to ensure my cooperation because he knew I cared about the people who lived there.

"So I did. I went back to the Forest, grabbed the Spiritual Stones, and came back. I said goodbye to you, and then went into the Temple of Time and drew the Sword. That opened the way into the Sacred Realm, where Ganondorf was able to get a part of the Triforce and become the King of Evil. Unfortunately, drawing the Sword caused me to be sealed in that Sacred Realm for seven years. So for me, the change from normal Hyrule to post-apocalyptic Hyrule was just like that."

He snapped his fingers.

"And now I'm here. To pick up the pieces. To set everything right in Hyrule again. I've already done so for the Forest, and my next stop is Death Mountain. Do you understand why I didn't want to stay here? All of this-" he waved his arms around at the overflowing Kakariko- "it's all my fault. All of this. Hate me if you want, I don't blame you. Just-"

Suddenly, Link felt completely out of control, like his consciousness had been forcibly ejected from his body. He watched dumbly as his right hand slowly rose without him putting any thought into it. A flicker of confusion crossed his mind.

It was at that moment that he realized that he had no clue where Ivan was.

His hand came crashing down across his face, causing the Hero to reel away from the not-quite self-inflicted blow. He staggered, glaring at his fairy as his borderline violet form exited Link's body.

"Stupid, stupid leetle man!" the sprite castigated. "Don't you _dare_ blame this on yourself again! What's done is done, and you're trying to fix it. That's all anyone can ask of you."

He then felt a pair of warm arms surround him, as the ranch girl wrapped him in a tight embrace.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I had no idea. At least stay for the rest of the day, though, okay? You still need the rest."

"I think I'm the one who should be sorry," Link refuted, returning the hug. It felt right, his face warping into an honest, weary smile.

**!0*0!**

It was quiet for the rest of the day. Link had spent it helping to build a fence through Hyrule Field that would- hopefully- allow Kakariko to have access to water from Zora's River without having to fight through any hordes of demons. The water wasn't for drinking, though; rather, it was going to be used as emergency defenses in case of a particularly violent eruption of Death Mountain. Link had also learned that the stronger beasts lived closer to Hyrule Castle; the strongest enemies that lived out here were apparently Aracha, whatever those were, and the occasional lone Lynel.

Now, he was heading back to New Lon Ranch to pick up his stuff and buy a few bandages in case he got injured when he noticed the elderly carpenter walking into the village with his carpenting troupe. Weren't they supposed to be down at Gerudo Valley?

Whistling Epona's Song, Link galloped all the way to the Ranch and found Anjou. When he informed her and her brother that their father had returned to the village, their reactions were… different.

Anjou herself seemed happy, evidently having been worried that her father had died in Hyrule Field somewhere. Her brother, on the other hand, threw a temper tantrum, forcing Link to avoid his flailing limbs and drag him into the house. He then followed Anjou to the gates, but trailed well behind.

"Father! What happened! I thought you were going to rebuild the bridge that led to the Gerudo! You shouldn't be back for another month!"

"Yes, but there's a problem," her father stated. "The Gerudo've all been brainwashed!"

Link's ears twitched as he perked up. _Brainwashed? Like Nabooru?_

"It was crazy! If they even saw a shadow so much as twitch, they'd just run up to you with a spear and demand Gerudo identification! And then they'd gut you then and there! I lost some good men trying to build a bridge, but eventually I just had to cut our losses and head back. Some of them were wearing these massive suits of armor and we couldn't do anything to them!"

"You seem worried," Ivan noted.

"This didn't happen last time," Link answered simply.

Having heard all he needed to hear, Link started to go back until he noticed a broken Biggoron sword jutting out of his case of carpentry supplies. Figuring he could get it later, the Hero of Time headed back to New Lon Ranch to grab his stuff and depart.

"You're leaving, aren't you?"

He stopped, and turned slowly to see Malon standing in the doorway, watching him. "Yeah. I have to drop by the Temple of Time to meet with my guide. I'll be back tomorrow and head up Death Mountain."

"Take Epona," the ranch owner offered. "She's been pretty restless recently. Besides, she seems to like you."

Link grinned at the thought of his old steed. "I think I'd like that."

Soon, the Hero of Time and his faithful horse were galloping across the vast expanse of Hyrule Field.

**!0*0!**

Sheik was still standing there, in the Temple of Time. Link was unsure whether she'd actually stood there in that exact spot since he had first left the Temple and only left when he had reached the Forest Temple, or if she had seen him leave Kakariko and come back. It didn't matter.

"You destroyed the wicked creatures that haunted the temple and awakened your friend," she started. "But there are still more Sages who need your assistance. In order to awaken every last Sage, you must become even more powerful. You must travel over mountains, under water, and even through time itself…"

_So is this just another facet of my first quest? _Link thought cynically. _A warping of reality to create new challenges for me? Was fighting Ganondorf not the end, and now I have to fight what _made _him evil in the first place?_

"If you wish to return to your original time, place the Master Sword in the-"

"- in the Pedestal of Time, I know," Link said. "I don't mean to be rude, but can you just teach me the Prelude of Light already? The sooner I awaken all the Sages, the better, right?"

Zelda blinked. Then she let out a long sigh. "I suppose the time will come when you must return here quickly… I ought to teach this to you for when that time comes. The song to return you to the Temple of Time… the Prelude of Light."

With that, she procured her gilded harp and played the six-note tune. Link followed suit with the Ocarina of Time and repeated the melody, vibrant memories of using the song instantly coming back to his mind.

If only he hadn't forgotten in the first place.

"As long as you hold the Master Sword and the Ocarina of Time, you hold the flow of time itself in your hands," Sheik said cryptically.

"So I could go back to before I drew the Master Sword the first time?" Link asked slowly, a flicker of hope mounting in his core before he shoved it back down again. He was beyond that. The past he had had was gone; all he could do was pick up the pieces, and maybe even make them better.

"Unfortunately, no. No, you cannot," the Sheikah answered curtly. "The sword can only transport you a set distance through time upon its removal and replacement with the Pedestal of Time. Link, I'll see you again…"

"Hang on! Can I ask one more thing?"

"Yes?" Sheik asked tersely. She was obviously tense due to her proximity to Ganondorf.

"Could you teach me all of the teleportation songs now? It would make all of our lives a whole lot easier," Link suggested.

"No," the former princess refuted. "I can only teach the teleportation songs in very particular places of power, usually in close proximity to their respective Warp Altars. Anyway, I must be going. I'll see you again…"

With that, she disappeared with the flash of a Deku Nut, and Link was left alone in a barren temple, alone with his thoughts and his worries. Well, he wasn't really alone. He had Ivan, and the three fairies in his bottles. They had to count for something, right?

**Welp. That was Chapter 10. Hope you all enjoyed it, and if you haven't already, leave a review!**

**NOOTTD: 1. Rusl is a character from Twilight Princess. I've never actually played TP, but I think he's Link's adoptive father or something. Please don't crucify me. Actually, if I'm wrong, could you tell me in a review or something?**

**2\. The brainwashed Gerudo idea comes not only from Nabooru in the Spirit Temple, but also because Gerudo models can be found inside of Iron Knuckles. Don't worry, Link will be fine come Gerudo Valley. [Not "fine" as in "of high quality," but "fine" as in… well, you know what I mean.]**

**Review Please!**


	12. Chapter 11: Trial By Fire

**Wow. Chapter 11. This fic is getting so ponderously large that I actually had to move it to another Google document so that it would stop lagging up my computer.**

**Also, wow. 30 reviews. I'm… astonished. And psyched. And ecstatic. Did I mention proud?**

**RRRP:**

_ChangelingRin (FF): _Yes, my plot to convert all the Zelink shippers has finally begun in earnest! Honestly, I just wanted to write Malon as a bonafide badass. Thanks for all the support!

_Reaper4425 (FF): _Alright. I know they're not actually father and son- I've never played TP, and I possibly never will (I don't own a working Nintendo Wii, Wii U, or Switch). Thanks for clearing that up!

_Agent3Novi (AO3): _Again, thanks for all the support! Also, _by the name of all that is holy_, thank you so much for the fanart! I've actually posted it as the cover image for the fic over on FF dot net, so anyone who's interested, feel free to take a look!

_Chapter XI: Temple of Flames_

The gate to the Death Mountain Trail was still open after Link's seven year nap, fortunately, and this allowed the Hero and his fairy to ascend the volcano. It was full of giant rolling rocks that Link had to avoid, as well as a particularly violent infestation of Tektikes and little pigs Ivan labeled as bokoblins.

Eventually, after being nearly crushed by the gargantuan boulders countless times, Link made it to the entrance of Goron City. Above him, he could see the fiery halo around Death Mountain, like a hellish harbinger of doom. Swallowing, the Hero of Time stalked into the heart of the mountain, anticipating the disappearance of every last Goron inside.

He was right. The entirety of the city of the stone race was void of life, save a single tiny Goron rolling around on the middle floor. Knowing that this particular Goron was Darunia's son that he had named after Link, the Hylian eagerly jumped from the top level down to the middle one. Unfortunately for the Hero, he jumped directly in front of the Goron and was promptly flung backwards by the rolling rock. The rock in question proceeded to cancel its momentum and roll the other way, in an effort to get away from Link.

He knew what he had to do. The Hylian ran towards the still-blocked entrance to Medigoron's smithy and picked one of the Bomb Flowers growing right by it. He flung it in the path of Goron Link, only for it to not detonate when he wanted it to. The oblivious Goron rolled right by it. This process repeated itself quite a few times. Finally, an exasperated Hero decided that enough was enough. He pulled out his Hookshot and latched onto his namesake, tugging Link along with the Goron as it rolled along the middle level. As he was dragged across the ground, Link procured a Bombchu from his pack and set it down on the handle of the Hookshot. He watched as the mobile explosive crawled along the chain of the Hookshot, eventually making contact with Link's stony exterior.

The Goron halted his motion, finally ceasing in his rolling. A grateful Hylian soon disentangled himself, examining a few bruises that he had garnered along his ill-advised trip.

"How could you do this to me?! You- you're Ganondorf's servant!" the tiny stone squealed.

"Uh, actually, I-" Link started.

"_Hear my name and tremble_!" the child proceeded to scream. "_I am Link, Hero of the Gorons_!"

"About that… _I'm _Link," the Hylian finally said.

Link proceeded to stare at Link with his violet eyes. "What? Your name is also Link? Then you must be the Legendary Dodongo Buster and Hero, Link!"

"Legendary… Dodongo Buster… and Hero…" Ivan tried to interpret, dying of laughter. The Hylian glared at him.

"My dad is Darunia… do you remember him?"

"Hard to not remember him… he nearly cracked my skull open that one time," Link answered, subconsciously rubbing the top of his cranium.

"Oh yeah, he told me about that! Link, you're a hero to the Gorons! I'm so glad to meet you! Please give me your autograph; sign it: 'To my friend, Link of the Gorons'!"

_Holy Farore_, _is _this _what it'll be like after I kill Ganondorf? _Link thought to himself worriedly. _I can barely stand one Goron fawning over me, much less an entire country…_

"Oh… I guess this isn't the best time to ask you for that… please help everyone!"

_What do you _think _I was going to do, kick back and relax like I was on holiday?_

"My dad went to the Fire Temple. There's a dragon inside! If we don't go to help, everyone will be eaten by the dragon! B-b-b-boooo hooooo!"

_Goddesses, was I this emotional as a kid?_

"You'd better try to calm leetle baby stone Link down if you can… maybe he'll calm down if you talk to him?" Ivan suggested quietly. All he got in reply was a curt not.

"Hey, kid, it'll be okay," Link said placatingly. "Tell me about this _dragon_."

"A-a long time ago, there was an evil dragon named Volvagia that lived in this mountain," the Goron began, sniffling. "That dragon was very scary! It ate Gorons! Using a giant hammer, the hero of the Gorons… BOOOOOOM! Destroyed it just like that. This is a legend from long ago, but it's true! I know it's true because my dad is a descendant of that hero! B-b-b-boooo hooooo!"

At least the kid wasn't outright bawling this time around.

"Where's everyone else? What happened to the Gorons?" Link asked, trying his best to sound like he didn't already know the answer.

"Everyone was taken to the Fire Temple. When my dad was out, Ganondorf's followers came and took them all away. They will all be fed to Volvagia, who Dad says has been revived by Ganondorf! And he's doing it as a warning to all the other races to never oppose him! Darunia went to the Fire Temple all by himself to try and save everyone… Please help, Link!"

"Of course I'll help," Link said, putting a smile on his face. He was good at it, too, and it almost looked genuine. "_Volvagina_ won't know what hit her."

Ivan blanched, but the insult sailed straight over the Goron's head. "Uh… its name is Volvagia, not Volvagina… Here! I can give you this heat-resistant tunic and I'll open the gates!"

Before the Hylian knew what was happening, his Goron namesake was shoving a red tunic into his hands. He wasn't complaining, because he knew it was ridiculously expensive to buy from the shop and it looked quite good on him, if Link did say so himself, but the Hylian was confused all the same.

"Hang on a moment. Why do you have this? You're rolling around the middle level of Goron City and just happen to be holding one of these? Also, this is Kokiri style, and they don't grow past the age of, like, ten! So why do you have an adult-size Kokiri tunic?!"

"I… I don't know…" Link answered slowly, evidently having just considered it himself. Shrugging, the Goron proceeded to dart down to the lowest level and shove the entrance to Darunia's chamber open, allowing Link to walk inside.

**!0*0!**

While Link had no clue why a tunnel straight into Death Mountain crater existed in Darunia's chambers, especially why said tunnel was hidden behind a giant stone statue, he wasn't complaining, as it spared him the long and arduous sojourn up Death Mountain and through the massive _active_ volcano.

Sighing, Link strolled towards the edge of the stone cliff and Hookshotted onto an inexplicably still functional wooden bridge, which was surprising, given how it was located inside an active volcano. Normally Ivan would have commented on this, but he was hiding in Link's fireproof hat to escape the heat. He was glad that he had gotten used to this mirrored world. It helped to not take a right whenever he needed to go left, and vice versa.

As he was about halfway down the bridge, a shadowy shape descended from somewhere above him. The shape turned out to be Sheik, and after Link got over his shock, his demeanor changed to one of mild anger.

"Princess, what are you doing here! This is an _active volcano_! You must be boiling alive!"

"Sheikah do not get hot," Zelda said, as drolly as if she were reciting it from somewhere. "We are equally effective at any temperature."

"But you're _not_ a Sheikah, Ze- Sheik. You're just disguising yourself as one. Now, please, for my sake of mind, can you just teach me the Bolero of Fire and get out of here? This is stressing me out."

Zelda inhaled, then exhaled. "It is something that grows over time… a true friendship. A feeling in the heart that becomes ever stronger… Are we not friends?"

"O-of course we are," Link promised, struggling to not accuse her of abandoning him. That was another Zelda, from another time. Right? "I'm… just trying to protect you because I don't want to lose that friendship."

"Then let that friendship blossom into righteous power, for through it, you will know which way to go," the ex-princess spouted. "Please, Link, let me be your friend as you are mine. It's fitting, then, that this song is dedicated to the power of the heart… the Bolero of Fire…"

Sheik then procured her harp and played the eight-note song. Link repeated the song on his ocarina, suddenly remembering all the times he had played the song to warp here.

"I'd actually like to ask you a few things, but you seem to think I'm incapable, so I guess I should ask them later. I'll see you again-"

"Wait."

She stopped. "What?"

"I think you got the wrong impression," Link tried to assure her. "I don't think you're incapable. Far from it. In fact, that's _why_ I'm being so protective. Because I couldn't stand someone incapable. Do you understand me?"

"I think," she answered. "Regardless, I'll ask you the next time we meet. It _is_ rather hot in here, I suppose."

Then, with a flash of a Deku Nut, she was gone. The ensuing silence permitted Link to veer right and jump down a long ladder- quite literally, despite Ivan's protest- and enter the Fire Temple.

**!0*0!**

It was darker than Link remembered inside the Fire Temple. If he recalled correctly, he needed to go to his left the first time to meet with Darunia… but there was a massive stone pillar blocking that way that he would need to get the Megaton Hammer to access. But he couldn't get the Megaton Hammer for a long time…

Oh, wait. The world was reversed, so he actually needed to go right. He had nearly forgotten.

Link walked towards a set of stone stairs and tried to climb them, only to be caught off-guard by the wall of flames that he casually strolled straight into. Desperately, the Hero tried to beat the fire off of his body in an effort to not remain alight, and eventually he succeeded.

"Well, shit," Link grumbled. "How am I supposed to do this now?"

"Ivan… is not sure," the fairy said. "Is there a hookshot panel somewhere?"

Link looked around. "Not one that's visible," he lamented. Did he need the Lens of Truth for this? He hoped not. The more time he could spend without having to go to the Bottom of the Well, the better.

"I'm going to ask Saria," Link suggested before thinking better of it. "Actually, she probably wouldn't be able to help."

"Leetle man, that door is unlocked. You could go there," Ivan suggested, directing Link towards the rightmost door at the bottom.

"Oh, yeah," the Hylian agreed, walking through the stone door as it closed behind him.

Inside of the tiny hallway was a Goron, curled up in a ball in a cell, along with a large wooden chest. Funny. This chest used to contain the Boss Key, right?

Link had no time to think, however, as a Like Like descended from the ceiling and managed to tug the Hylian into its innards. Eventually, it spat Link back out, tunic-less. Enraged, Link wasted no time in driving the Master Sword down its gullet, killing it instantly.

He put on his undigested Goron Tunic back on, and tripped inelegantly over a small chest on his way back out. It contained a Blue Rupee. Too bad his wallet was full.

Now he was stuck at square one again. He was still in the first room, and still thwarted by a wall of fire.

"You know what? I'm just going to climb over," Link grumbled, jumping up on the side of the stairwell. Thankfully for his sanity, he wasn't promptly bathed in fire.

Sighing in relief, the Hero finally ascended the stairs and was now on the second level. Upon closer inspection, the rightmost door was locked, but there were two suspiciously placed torches embedded in the sides of the stairs. Relieved to finally have an easy puzzle, Link positioned himself between the two torches and readied Din's Fire, a bubble of heat expanding out from his body and lighting the braziers mounted on the stairs.

Nothing happened.

"What the fuck? I lit the torches!"

"For the last time, watch your language! You know what? Ivan is done with this. Every time you swear, Ivan is going to take Rupees out of your wallet."

"What! That's not fair!" Link complained.

"Neither is swearing for the thousandth time after Ivan told leetle man not to," Ivan retorted. The Hero of Time stopped mid-statement, mouth hanging open as he tried to come up with words with which to defend himself.

"Good, we agree!" the fairy said, diving into Link's pouch. "Shall we agree on… five Rupees per swear before this, and ten from now on?"

"Ten?! That's clear extortion!"

"Don't complain, or Ivan will raise it to fifteen," the sprite threatened.

"Ugh, fine," Link relented. _Now I've really got to watch my tongue…_

The torches had gone out during the argument. That was a lot of magic Link had wasted. He was tempted to curse, but he was almost out of Rupees and didn't particularly want to find out what Ivan would do _then_.

Sighing heavily, Link plopped himself down at the top of the stairs, which fortunately didn't burn him alive. There must be a way to open that door. There _must be._ At least there weren't any annoying Fire Keese this time around.

He looked around aimlessly. There weren't any eye switches that he could see, nor any floor buttons. There was nothing he could move… unless…

Shoving the statue blocking the leftmost door out of the way proved impossible; it was just too heavy for Link to move. He would need the Megaton Hammer to get it out of the way. Link muttered half-baked ideas to himself incoherently as he plodded to the three face-shaped braziers stuck together in the center of the room, placing his head against the central one in defeat.

Then he stopped and peeled his forehead away from the oddly cool stone. There wasn't a flame in it like last time…

To his left, a flame was lit. To his right, one was not. Link grasped his head in his hands, cursing his own stupidity, before preparing Din's Fire once again, igniting both unlit heads.

Nothing happened. The Hero of Time immediately realized that he was out of magic. Peering back towards the entrance, he noticed a few pots tucked away by the gaping entryway. Link ran over, sure to avoid the wall of fire, and cut them to bits, refilling his magic back to its maximum with the potions nestled inside.

He then went back and cast Din's Fire again, which thankfully worked, lighting all four torches. The rightmost door opened, and Link let out a sigh of relief. He walked through it, ignoring how it closed behind him in favor of looking across the pit of lava at his old friend and Sworn Brother, Darunia of the Gorons.

"Who's there? Whoever's… wait, is that you, Link?" he boomed.

"Yeah, it's me," the Hylian replied. "Sorry it's been so long since I last dropped by."

"Oh, it really _is _Link! You've grown so big since I last saw you! I'd like to have a man-to-man talk with you, but… well, now's not the time. Ganondorf is causing trou-"

"Yeah, Ganondorf revived Volvagia and locked all the Gorons in the Fire Temple, promising to feed them to Volvagia as a warning to the other races," Link said. "Your son filled me in. And why in the name of the Goddesses did you _name_ him after me? I mean, it's cool and all, but surely there was another option, right? Because now I'm going to get so confused!"

"Uh… okay? Anyway, I need to try to seal up the evil dragon-"

"Don't!" Link burst. "You don't have the Megaton Hammer! You'll die!"

"Da! Stone man is crazy!" Ivan chimed in.

"Do I have a choice? It's either me or my people, and I put my people first. And if Volvagia ever escapes from inside of the mountain, she'll rain down fiery death on all of Hyrule! I can't let that happen! Link, I have to ask you this as my Sworn Brother: don't stop me. Save my people from the Temple! The prisoner's cell is in the opposite direction! I'm counting on you, Link!"

With that, Darunia turned around and walked through the door leading to Volvagia's chamber. Link assumed that he must have had the Boss Key on hand. But if that was the case, how was he expected to go in there?

There was one cell in this room that Link needed to unlock. It probably had the small key Link needed to unlock the leftmost door on the bottom level back in the first room. He looked around, noticing a hookshot panel on the left side. So he leapt across several pillars stuck in the magma in order to get over there, successfully Hookshotting over to the other side. On closer inspection, there was a torch stuck inside of the Hookshot pillar, as well as one on the other side. He knew he needed to use Din's Fire to light one, and then shoot an arrow through the fire at the other arrow, but Link had also noticed several wooden crates strewn about the room that probably contained his desperately needed Rupees. So he cut them down with his sword, only to find that the one on the precipice of a high ledge hid a third torch. Cheeky.

Link lit the two close torches with his magic, and then proceeded to fire an arrow through the flames, lighting it as it streaked towards the third torch. His aim was off, though, and he missed.

He tried again. This time, he hit it, and the cell door opened.

So he jogged across the magma to the other side, marveling on how it didn't hurt him at all. He clambered up the stone structures, eventually walking into the cell.

There wasn't a Goron inside. Link took a moment to pay his respects before he opened the small chest inside, revealing a Small Key. Perfect.

**!0*0!**

He ran back to the first room and unlocked the left door that wasn't blocked by a massive stone pillar. Immediately, he was beset by a Keese, which managed to bite the Hero before he batted it away with the sharp end of the Master Sword.

He walked further into the room, only for two Stalfos to appear out of nowhere, jagged bronze swords gleaming in the light. Link fumbled in his bag for a Deku Nut, eventually finding one and throwing it. He managed to stun one of the Stalfos with the blinding flash, allowing Link to run up and hit it. The blow wasn't enough to down the skeleton, though, and it soon reared up to strike. Link summoned his shield and batted away the blow, wincing at the decrease in his Dark Magic. The action managed to disorient the Stalfos long enough for Link to ram the Blade of Evil's Bane into the skeletal warrior's eye socket. Even still, the Stalfos just wouldn't die, and it managed to hit Link in a way that would have been quite bad had he not Backapparated behind the skeleton and performed a Jump Slash at its exposed backside, finally killing the one Stalfos.

Unfortunately, Link had forgotten about the other Stalfos in the scuffle, and so the skeleton was able to score a hit on him. Because he wasn't expecting it, Link wasn't able to Backapparate and abuse the skeleton's lack of defense. The Stalfos rose its blade for a vertical chop, but the Hero anticipated this and brought his own sword up, keeping the bronze blade at bay. He would have used his shield, but his dark magic was nearly depleted and he wasn't sure if he could hold it for very long without it exploding. For a few seconds, they remained in this position before the living combatant twisted his blade in a wide arc, successfully disarming the skeletal warrior. The sword disappeared in a cloud of white mist, and the Hero wasted no time in capitalizing on the skeleton's sudden defenselessness. He hit the Stalfos once, twice, thrice, four times, before the blade re-materialized in the Stalfos' hand, catching Link off-guard as it brought the sword down into Link's cranium.

There was a second of darkness before Link felt a fairy emerge from within his Pouch of Holding, healing many of his injuries and restoring light to his vision. He then proceeded to viciously decapitate the Stalfos, causing the door forwards to open.

The next room was tiled, and as soon as Link walked in, several of the tiles rose out of the floor and flew towards Link at high speed. He nimbly leapt out of the way; normally he would have summoned his shield, but he was saving it for the Iron Knuckle-

Hang on. Iron Knuckle? In the _Fire Temple?_ Link did a double-take to ensure that he wasn't going crazy, and indeed, there was a giant suit of armor sitting motionless in a throne right in front of him.

That wasn't right. He wasn't supposed to fight Iron Knuckles until the Spirit Temple, when his body could sustain at least a few blows. Everything hurt twice as much, so Link estimated that he could survive only… two hits from the metalloid monstrosity. And he didn't even have the Biggoron Sword! How come this kind of thing only happened to Link?

At the very least, all the sentient floor tiles had become little more than shrapnel. The way forwards remained sealed, so that left one option- fight the Iron Knuckle. Link sighed, nocking an arrow in his Fairy Bow before letting it fly.

It hit its target just fine, but it did nothing against the heavy armor the Iron Knuckle… wore? Was made of? Come to think of it, what _was_ an Iron Knuckle? Kotake and Koume had brainwashed Nabooru into becoming one, so… did that mean an Iron Knuckle was a Gerudo? But if that was the case, then what was it doing _here_? And how did it get here?

And more importantly, why was its axe faintly glowing? Was that magic? He hoped not.

"Do you think you can Mind Hack it?" Link whispered to Ivan.

"Ivan does not think so," Ivan replied. "Mind Hacking requires a target with a brain, and Ivan is unsure of whether or not Iron Knuckles possess those."

"So I have to fight it with the Master Sword. Great," Link grumbled, unsheathing the sacred blade once more. He crept up to the suit before slashing at it. The Iron Knuckle then slowly lifted its ponderous bulk, hefting its strangely luminescent axe as it started slowly marching towards Link. Link habitually twirled the Master Sword in his hands before getting in close. The suit of armor then swung its luminous halberd in two great strokes, cutting down its own stone throne, but Link was able to backflip out of range and then Jump Slash it. The Iron Knuckle didn't even flinch as it continued its trek towards the Hero of Time.

Link made to bait the steel soldier once more. Said soldier brought its axe over its head and slammed it into the floor where Link had stood just a heartbeat before, sending sinuous cracks all through the tiles. The Hylian, having rapidly sidestepped to his left to get behind it, then managed to exploit its defenselessness, getting a few Jump Slashes in.

Then the Iron Knuckle spun around counterclockwise, whirling its axe in a great, wide arc. The attack caught Link unawares, but gave him almost enough time to dance out of the way.

Almost.

The Hylian was flung backwards several paces by the hit, landing on his back at the foot of what was once the Iron Knuckle's seat. Pain blossomed from several places throughout his entire body, most notably his left eye. Right where the Knuckle's axe had nicked him.

Scrambling backwards, away from the still advancing Iron Knuckle, Link cautiously opened his eyes. He immediately realized that his left eye saw nothing. He assumed that the Iron Knuckle had managed to cut him right above the eyeball, and the stream of blood coming forth was causing his inability to see. So he closed it, relying on his right eye to keep track of the metalbound warrior. He took in his surroundings, not very lucidly. A crimson trail of blood meandered from the seat of the throne to where Link was, ensuring that it was, in fact, his own blood. There was also another fluid that he couldn't identify.

"Dear Goddesses! Link, are you alright?"

It took Link a second to realize that the voice belonged to Ivan. "I… van?"

"Da! Ivan will distract the Iron Knuckle! You take some of those bandages we bought in Kakariko and wrap them around your head! Go!" the fairy ordered, darting off to get the suit of armor's attention. Deliriously, the Hero managed to open up his pack and retrieve the strips of fabric, remove his hat, wrapping them tightly around his head and covering his wounded eye before replacing the red hat. It still hurt like mad, though, so he also uncorked a bottle and released the fairy inside, healing his lesser injuries and returning his sense of mind to him.

But his eye still hurt.

He decided that killing this Iron Knuckle took priority, though, as it had probably gotten bored of trying to hit Ivan. The little sprite was surprisingly nimble in the air, always avoiding a strike by the slimmest of margins as to ensure that the suit of armor didn't lose interest. So Link crept up behind it and rammed the Master Sword into its midsection before swiftly backing off, to prevent it from spinning again. The entire chestplate of the suit caved away, and the Iron Knuckle growled in what sounded like rage as it started running at Link faster than it was before.

Link swung at its exposed torso, landing the hit and causing it to stumble backwards. He attacked it again, causing it to take a step back once again. It growled again, renewing its assault. Its efforts were fruitless, though, as one final swipe caused the Iron Knuckle to keel over, evaporating in an ocean of green fire as it finally died. The Hylian, however, couldn't hear it, nor did he hear the sound of the door sliding open. Instead, he carefully undid the bandages surrounding his face.

Ivan let out a little gasp. "Leetle man, what are you doing? Shouldn't you leave those on? You just got hit by an Iron Knuckle!"

"I took a Healing Fairy. I should be healed by now," Link explained, tearing the last bits of fabric away.

But he still couldn't see anything out of it.

Ivan let out a dismayed tone, staring at his left eye. "What the hell?!"

"Language!" Link grumbled mockingly.

"Your _eye…_ Ivan knew that glowing wasn't good!"

"My eye is glowing?"

"No, leetle man, the axe! Yebat…"

"Ivan, you're scaring me. What's going on?" Link asked, genuinely concerned.

"Okay, Ivan is going to have to explain some things. Be patient, da? So, the eye has this fluid inside of it that holds its shape. That's important, because that keeps your eye functioning as it was intended by the Goddesses. That Iron Knuckle hit you in such a way that the axe went into your eye without hitting your nose or the eye socket. But it hit you just enough to… crack your eye open like an egg. That clear liquid on the floor is the fluid that used to be in your eye. And because there's no fluid in your left eye anymore, it kind of deflated inside of your eye socket. Fortunately, the fairy… was able to stop the bleeding, or you'd probably be dead right now. Ivan is sorry, but you're not going to be using that eye again."

Link should have felt something. Anger. Fear. Depression. Instead, he felt oddly peaceful. He wasn't sure if it was denial or something until he realized for sure that it was not.

The pain of losing his left eye was just _nothing_ compared to the pain of having lost everything else. Losing his past had been his greatest struggle, and he wasn't sure if he had even fully accepted that yet. Intellectually, he knew there was nothing left, and that he ought to move on, but there was still that primal urge to try lingering in his mind. But one thing was certain; he wasn't letting something as trivial as an eyeball get in the way of his goal; to save Hyrule and maybe, just maybe, getting his Hyrule back. Not his old Hyrule, as that was lost to time, but the Hyrule of the present.

"I'll be fine, Ivan. And no, I don't think I'm in denial. I just think I've been through worse," Link said. "If I could get through my grief over losing my friends, one eyeball shouldn't by that big of an issue."

Ivan nodded. "That is… very mature of you. Perhaps you aren't so much of a leetle man after all."

There was a pause of a few seconds.

"Ivan is still going to call you leetle man, though."

"Shut up, Ivan," Link said amicably as he finally left the room.

**!0*0!**

The flame dancer exploded in a fiery inferno, causing the doors of the small arena to open. Meanwhile, a large chest appeared on the dais situated in the center of the room. Link clambered on top of it and leveraged it open, hoping beyond hope that the Megaton Hammer would be inside.

He was proven correct, greeted by a silver hammer that Link couldn't carry one-handed. Hefting it out of the chest revealed that he could barely handle it two-handed, either, due to the limited strength of his Stalfos hand. Nevertheless, Link _was_ able to lift it, with some difficulty.

Then he swung it experimentally. And he went out of control.

Before, he could at least somewhat handle the ludicrously high momentum of the hammer, but now he was physically incapable of stopping the hammer, and started spinning wildly like a drunken Peahat. Seconds later, the Hero of Time was able to stop his angular velocity, but consequently had to nurse a massive headache and extreme dizziness.

"Okay, so be gentle with this thing," Link noted. Ivan nodded solemnly in agreement, preemptively flying towards the door forwards. His partner soon caught up with him, and together, they opened the stone door.

Now they were on the other side of the cell, and Link was faced with a red switch.

"Hm… This switch looks rusted." Ivan noted. "Smash it."

"What do you _think_ I was going to do?" Link responded before bringing the Megaton Hammer over his head and laboriously swinging it into the button.

The blow forced the rusted switch into a closed position. This prompted the cell in front of him to open and the Goron inside to perk up.

"A… are you releasing me? Am I free to go?"

"Yeah. Go back to Goron City," Link replied. "Darunia's son Link is waiting for you."

"Oh, I see! Big Brother Darunia asked you to rescue us. I owe you big-time! Please help Big Brother!"

"Ivan and I promise," Link replied.

Smiling widely, the Goron eagerly sprinted out of the Fire Temple- well, as fast as a Goron really could, anyway. They were more the slow, strong type in general.

He returned to the central room and beelined towards the effigy pillar. Now that he was armed with the Megaton Hammer, Link could smash the stone to smithereens with relative ease. And so he did, walking through the stone door when he was done.

The next room was a magma-filled basin with several short stone pillars strewn about. There was also a precarious-looking wooden bridge crossing the room. However, Link knew that there were three other rooms that connected to this one. It would be prudent, then, to investigate them before continuing onwards.

He decided to first go right, jumping across the pillars. They started sinking into the lava as Link put his weight on them, but he was off before they could come anywhere near submerging themselves. He made it to the right side, walking down the corridor and through the steel door.

He ended up in a tiny, curved hallway. He rounded the corner and came across a Goron Cell with a Gold Skulltula inside. Hefting the Megaton Hammer, Link pressed the rusted switch and opened the door.

"Are you releasing me? Am I free to go?" the Goron inside asked timidly, unfurling.

"Yeah."

"Here's a secret for saving me! A wall that you hit with your sword will sound different if you can destroy it with the Goron's 'special crop'."

With that, the Goron ambled out of the cell and presumably out of the Fire Temple. Link killed the Golden Skulltula before moving on. If his numbers were correct, that was his twenty-ninth.

He returned to the lava chamber, breaking a pot to fill his quiver as he returned to the rickety wooden bridge that somehow hadn't caught on fire. It was extremely hot in there; if Link wasn't wearing the Goron Tunic, he would have burnt alive for sure. The Hero of Time tried going left, only for a massive wall of flames to bar the way. It didn't look very high, though…

Link hopped onto a pillar that was moving back and forth in front of the flaming wall. He knew he couldn't get to the raised stone platform without being immolated, but he could probably get to the rubble slope next to it, right?

"Here goes nothing!" Link yelled as he hurled himself across the gap. Unfortunately, his jump wasn't quite high enough to not start burning, but Link did manage to get to the other side.

"What are you _thinking!_" Ivan chastised. "That's a good way to get yourself killed!"

"Relax, Ivan. I didn't die, did I?" Link shot back playfully, hauling himself onto the platform. He was instantly met with a torch that, when lit, would probably dispel the flames. Convenient.

He blew up an awfully conspicuous wall with a Bomb and stepped inside the small chamber, chugging the magic potion that had appeared from the remains of a ceramic pot. He was instantly greeted by another Goron cell, with one lit brazier on his right and an unlit one on his left.

"Fool me once, shame on you," Link muttered, "You're not getting me again."

He cast Din's Fire, lighting the left brazier and opening the cell.

"Are you releasing me? Am I free to go?"

"Yes."

"I'll tell you a secret for saving me! There are switches in this temple that you have to strike to activate. But you could also use the Goron's 'special crop' to do it!"

And like his brethren, the Goron proceeded to leave the Temple, leaving Link to open the small chest inside. It had a Small Key. Actually, were Gorons male? Did they even have genders in the first place?

The Hylian then left the cell, returning back to the lava chamber once again. He knew he needed to go to the right side again and go up the third chamber for what was probably another Small Key, but how?

"Ivan, do you see any switches around here?" Link asked.

"Nyet," his fairy companion answered. "There's a little alcove up there with a torch in it, though. And there's another torch up on the parapet, but it's out of the range of Din's Fire and your Hookshot."

Link followed Ivan's outstretched finger towards the tiny square hole in the stone chamber. He could barely see it in the darkness, but there way no way he could get up there. Right?

"Ivan, how am I supposed to get up there?" Link asked over the hissing noises of the moving pillars.

"Ivan doesn't know. But if it's there, you can probably go there, da?"

That didn't help Link, but he didn't feel like stating that. It would hurt Ivan's feelings.

Absentmindedly, Link strode over to the right side, ignoring how the pillars descended under his weight. He didn't care. He was busy trying to figure out how to get up on the parapet. He couldn't Hookshot to it… so what was he supposed to do? Keel over and die?

Then he was struck with a thought, a fleeting memory from the Fire Temple he knew. The one he had already done. He vaguely remembered being shot up into the air by one of the platforms before crashing down into the lava again, nearly causing him to hurl. Navi had used it as an opportunity to lecture him about being careful.

Maybe…

Link maneuvered himself over to the pillar closest to the alcove. When he stepped on it, it started shaking violently before detaching itself from the lava with a loud hissing noise. Once it reached its apex, Link leapt off of it and landed in the alcove, noting the torch embedded in the earth. The stone cube fell back into the magma while Link smashed a pot to reveal a rather large jug of green potion, which he disregarded; his magic meter was almost full and he was about to use Din's Fire to light the torch anyway. He did so, and eagerly partook of the magic-restoring drink afterwards.

It took him a second to realize that absolutely nothing had happened. He immediately set back to thinking again.

"Er, leetle man… Ivan has an idea. Do you remember that room in the Forest Temple, between the two courtyards, on the second floor?" the sprite said a few minutes later

"Yeah?" Link replied gruffly.

"You shot an arrow through a lit torch to ignite a cobweb. Maybe you could do that with the torch down there?"

Link stared dumbly at his partner. "Maybe the Goddesses should have made _you_ the Hero of Time!" he eventually stated.

Ivan stared for a bit before realizing that Link was joking and laughed, a little bit harder than the statement really deserved. Grinning, Link turned back to the torch- only to realize that it had gone out during his brief conversation with his fairy. Grumbling, Link cast Din's Fire again, and wasted no time in igniting an arrow in it and firing it at the distant torch, now to his left. It lit easily, causing the door right next to it to open. But that didn't help Link get there, did it?

"Hm… Try the other torch," Ivan suggested.

"But that deactivates the firewall, right?" Link questioned.

Ivan looked at the Hero of Time drolly. "Does leetle man have a better idea?"

"I guess not," Link surrendered, firing another arrow through the closest torch. This arrow went to the right side of the room and hit its target, the unlit torch, dead-on. The ensuing fires caused several Hookshot panels to rise out of the lava all over the room, including right on top of the leftmost parapet.

Grinning, Link set off with a bounce in his step, jumping out of the alcove and onto another rubble ramp.

**!0*0!**

He didn't expect this, but he was thoroughly enjoying the Fire Temple. It was challenging, trying to figure out exactly what everything did, and Link found it so much better than the Fire Temple he had known.

Returning back to the right side of the room, Link Hookshotted up onto the stone and walked through the door. Instantly, his ears were beset by a wall of fire across the room. There was also a lit torch on either side of the wall of fire, several living floor tiles, and…

Was that the _Boss Key?_

Link stared at the ornate chest at the other side of the flames, completely forgetting about the living floor tiles until they were about three feet from his face. Yelping in surprise, the Hylian barely had time to dive out of the way. Fortunately, the one movement was enough to dodge all of the floor tiles in the room.

Convenient. Just like the fact that the Boss Key was on the other side of this room. That was almost pathetically easy, right?

Link aimed his Hookshot at the torch situated on the other side of the flames. It yanked him through the fire so quickly that nothing happened to Link. The Hero of Time promptly retrieved the Boss Key from the chest, adding it to his pouch.

"Does this mean that I don't have to do anything else? I can just run back to the boss room and open it up now. I mean, I have the Megaton Hammer and the Boss Key. There's nothing stopping me."

Ivan gave him a look. "You really think you could jump that gap? Ivan doubts it."

A thought struck Link. _In order to get to the room Darunia went into, you have to do something about the pillar stuck in the ceiling_, a Goron had once told him.

He was right, wasn't he?

Slightly less optimistic about finishing the dungeon, Link exited the room, returning to the wooden bridge and unlocking the steel door with the Small Key.

The next room was a bit odd, if Link was being completely honest. Even on his first adventure, he never understood how a pillar of fire could lift a stone block as massive as the one sitting in the center of the room. Fire didn't have weight, so how could it _push_?

Where the new room differed was the fact that there was also another column of flames surrounding the block, and there were Keese somewhere in the room, judging by the errant flapping noises. He Hookshotted onto the top of a interlocking metal fence structure, using each rung of steel as a foothold to climb upwards. He killed the Keese that had made nests on top of it before jumping down onto the remains of a pillar.

The Hero peered over the edge of the pillar before flinging his head back, as the stone block flung itself into the ceiling. It had been propulsed by the pillar of fire. After a second, Link looked back down. The column of fire from earlier completely wreathed the flame pillar, dwarfing the space where the stone once stood. He would have to jump onto it the instant it started moving upwards; jumping down any earlier would result in Link immolating himself.

The stone cube fell back down with a cacophonous boom, actually shaking the room a bit. Link gulped, and started counting. He stopped counting when the stone started rising again, and when it fell once more, he started counting again. This time, at the instant it had risen before, the Hylian flung himself from the pillar, landing on the ascending stone as it rose into the roof.

Ivan gave him a look as Link stepped off of the stone onto the second floor. Link looked right back at him, chuckling a bit.

Fortunately, the door forwards wasn't locked, and Link could easily push it open. He remembered there being a block puzzle in here last time, but he didn't see any stones that he could push. He walked to his right, knowing that he couldn't open the cell from this section of the temple, and hoisted himself up a set of stairs. From there, he saw an unlit brazier, and instantly knew to cast Din's Fire. The fire caused a Hookshot panel to rise across a gap, which Link Hookshotted to before climbing on top of it and using it as a stepping stone to the top of the earthen structure.

He was caught off guard by a lone Lizalfos, but all his experiences killing Lizalfos, both in this era and the last, had made Link quite good at cutting them into bloody ribbons. Once the bipedal lizard was dead, Link climbed up an iron fence, only to notice a hookshot panel right at the top that he could have Hookshotted to. He ignored it, and instead continued on his way, opening an iron door.

He was instantly greeted by an oddly disturbing face engraved into the stone wall. He realized that he was in the maze chamber, but he didn't hear the sound of rolling rocks, nor the sound of those lava slugs, so he assumed they weren't present.

"Is there something… unusual here?" Ivan asked cautiously.

Link looked at his partner, confused. "Wasn't that what you said in Lord Jabu-Jabu's Belly?"

"Da," the fairy replied. "What of it?"

"Ivan. There aren't any cows to shoot here."

"Nyet. But there _is_ a face."

The Hylian turned back to the engraving. Deciding to trust Ivan, as he owed his companion as much at this point, he aimed his Hookshot at the nose of the stone face and fired it. Interestingly, a pink healing fairy emerged from the stone.

"Cool, a healing fairy. I could use that," Link said, catching the Fairy in a bottle. Ivan cringed, but said nothing.

Link then turned and attempted to navigate the maze. He was periodically assaulted by the Lizalfos, but they were easy enough for him to dispatch. Eventually, he came to the door that would lead him to the small chamber above the lava-filled cave from the first floor. But to his dismay, it was sealed tight. And because of that, there was no way to get on top of the maze and access either of the two cells in the room.

"So now what?" Link asked.

"Ivan does not know," Ivan replied. "Try exploring the rest of the maze; maybe there will be something."

So Link and Ivan proceeded to scour the rest of the room. They found one cell filled with a number of boxes and another cell on the level above, also filled with boxes. There was also a diamond switch situated right behind the second cell's bars, which definitely triggered something.

However, there didn't appear to be any way of accessing it; the bars prevented Link from reaching the switch, and it was out of reach. Sighing in defeat, the duo turned around and searched the other half of the maze, eventually reaching the other side.

"I hear a Skulltula here," Link noted. As he approached a wall, the sound got louder and louder. Wasn't this wall bombable? A swing with his sword confirmed this, as the blade bounced off with an odd _ding_. The ensuing explosion caused a section of the wall to give way, revealing a rusted switch and a Skullwalltula. Hefting the Megaton Hammer now, Link bashed the switch into the ground, killing the Skullwalltula in the process with its shockwave. He hoped to hear the creaking of one of the cells opening, but instead, Hookshot panels emerged from the ground in the corners of the room. Turning around, he saw that similar Hookshot panels had erupted on top of the maze, allowing the Hero to reach the upper level. He did so gladly, but not before rounding a corner and blowing up another section of wall, revealing a blue switch and a door.

"Well, that doesn't help me. The door to the center of this area," Link grumbled, pointing at the little circle on his Dungeon Map for emphasis, "is sealed. The door to _this _area is locked and I don't have a key. And I can't get into this little hallway to the north nor the two cells! I'm stuck!"

"Wait… ah, yes! There's a Block of Time that you can summon right there," Ivan said, pointing to a region of empty space above the locked door.

"I mean… okay, but how does that help me?"

"It will let you go up onto that little ledge, which will lead you to that lift," the fairy explained, indicating the various objects as he mentioned them.

"Alright, I guess," Link capitulated, Hookshotting on top of the maze and playing the Song of Time on top of another Hookshot pillar. True to Ivan's word, a large Block of Time appeared, suspended in space, that Link jumped onto. From there, the Hylian Hookshotted onto the tiny ledge and then again onto the lift, letting it pull him up onto the fourth level of the Temple.

He walked through the steel door, easing it shut behind him. He could hear the croaking of several magma slugs in this room, but he couldn't see them. They must have been further in.

The very instant Link realized this, a hot and searing pain shot up his left side. He turned instantly, backing away from the lava slug that had somehow managed to sneak up on him from his left. He was, at that instant, grateful he was wearing the Goron Tunic. But if Link hadn't been missing said left eye, he surely wouldn't have missed it in the first place.

In his panic, he stumbled and gracelessly tripped over his own feet. He felt a cool fluid run down his outer thigh, and as he picked himself up he confirmed it: the fall had broken his canteen, spilling all of his water onto the stones.

"Why, you little…" Link started, running through a list of verbal jabs in his head. He noted that he needed to learn more insults that weren't tied to the profane language that Ivan would charge him Rupees for. He settled on glaring at it viciously with his good eye.

Hefting the Megaton Hammer because the Master Sword was too good for it, Link reduced the slug to a puddle of rapidly cooling lava, which dispersed before disappearing. In its place was a vial of green potion, which Link drank greedily. Continuing forwards, the Hylian climbed a steel fence and slew another lava slug, finally ascending the room and entering the doughnut-shaped fifth floor.

The floor of this room was slick to the touch, and was colored a mottled gray. Link guessed that it was packed ash, given how, all the way at the bottom of the giant hole in the center of the room, sat the lava-filled chamber from the very beginning of the Temple.

There was a golden button right by the door, which Link stepped on. This caused the sound of flames, which Link had been tuning out since he entered the room, to die. He assumed that they had dispersed, only to reappear whenever the switch reset. The Hero decided that he wouldn't worry about it all that much; he could always step on the switch later.

He decided to work his way around the room, clockwise because counterclockwise was impossible. He immediately ran into a problem, though; he slid down any ashen slope with an angle greater than thirty degrees. This made traversing the room in a timely fashion nearly impossible.

The pillar of fire had come back long before Link got to it, and they appeared to be surrounding a chest. Right next to it was a rusted switch, which Link pushed with the Megaton Hammer. Immediately, Hookshot pillars rose from within the floor, allowing Link to go straight from the gold button to up by the chest.

So Link swandove from the platform onto the level below and stepped on the button. Then, he immediately Hookshot to the nearest panel, using the momentum to vault across the room and right in front of the chest. He kicked it open, revealing some kind of metal band. It was rather small, and would probably fit on one of Link's fingers. On closer inspection, the silvery ring had some kind of runes etched into it in some language Link couldn't identify, and there was a moderately sized onyx shard embedded in the metal.

"What's this…? A ring?" Link asked. "Ivan, can you read these runes?"

"Da," Ivan replied, fluttering closer. "Hm… Ivan thinks this is the language of the Interlopers, powerful dark magicians from long before your time. This was back when Rauru the Sage was alive. They sought the Triforce, and used dark magical artifacts like the Fused Shadow to aid them in that quest. They were banished to another realm long ago, but their legacy remains in their dark artifacts.

"If Ivan is understanding these runes correctly, this ring was meant to augment the power of any sorcerer to higher levels. Ivan thinks this correlates to how much Dark Magic leetle man can wield. This shouldn't affect your light magic, though Ivan still recommends caution when wearing it. It may have wards that prevent non-Interlopers from using it."

Link thought for a second. "Nope, still putting it on. I'm tired of my shield blowing up every other time I use it."

So he slipped the metal ring over his fourth finger. It fit surprisingly well, and the onyx started faintly glowing with a violet light. Instantly, the Hylian could feel his reserves of dark magic swell within him, growing to at least twice its original size.

He waited a few seconds. Nothing else happened. He experimentally summoned his Stalfos Shield, remarking once more on how its color had changed from when he was a child. It worked the same as it usually did, only Link had so much more magic than he had before.

"This is great!" Link said. "But… it doesn't help me with actually progressing in the dungeon…"

**!0*0!**

Back in the maze room, above the labyrinthine system of corridors, Link covered his ears as the bombs he had planted exploded. The explosion caused part of the platform to cave in, revealing a way back down onto the second floor. Rappelling down the hole, the Hylian ended up on the other side of the empty cell, but there was still no button in sight. There weren't any eye switches or torches, either, just a number of wooden boxes. Link smashed a few to vent his frustrations, only to find a rusted switch. He laughed, and pummeled it with the Megaton Hammer. This caused the gates to open, and inside the cell was a chest, which contained the Compass.

Link returned to the maze room and pondered his predicament. He couldn't get into the smaller hallway because he couldn't get a box, and he couldn't get a box because he couldn't open either of the cells!

The Hero of Time meandered through the room towards the cells, eventually finding himself right in front of the uppermost one. He could very clearly see a diamond switch just within the cell, taunting him.

"Maybe try Din's Fire?" Ivan suggested. "That spell seems to be used a lot in this dungeon."

"Worth a shot," Link said, shrugging, as he readied the spell. The ensuing fireball expanded out of his body and all around him, triggering the switch with a triumphant _ding_. This caused the cell to open, allowing Link to parkour across. Inside was a bunch of wooden crates, including a few that Link could easily pick up. There was also a chest, but it only contained a Deku Nut.

Snatching a box, Link jumped out of the room and jogged through the maze, turned slightly to the left to compensate for his currently missing eyeball. He was rewarded by not missing the onslaught of Lizalfos that fell on him almost the instant he left the cell. Link didn't bother to fight them, and instead ran; he could have easily killed them, but he was currently encumbered by the wooden crate that he was hauling through the maze.

Eventually, he lost the Lizalfos pack in the maze and had ended up on the other side of the chamber. Gingerly, Link placed the box on the bright blue button, causing the nearby door to unseal. The Hylian then walked through it into another cramped corridor. Around a bend was a Goron Cell, but it was empty. Link opened it after taking a moment of silence for the deceased Goron that once resided there. There was a small chest inside, in which was enclosed a Small Key.

Link sighed in relief. He was tired of this maze already. Worst-case scenario, he'd have to backtrack for that other cell. So he left the way he came, Hookshotted on top of the maze, and took a left, unlocking the door and stepping through.

The bandages covering his eye were starting to slip off, what with the overabundance of sweat that was forming due to the heat. Link was forced to take them off, squeezing his eye shut in order to prevent further damage. Reaching into his pack, Link withdrew the last of his bandages and wound them tightly around his skull, ensuring that none of his hair was caught in it. Not only would that not look very good, but it would probably damage his eye even further.

Replacing his crimson cap, Link surveyed the new room. Just like last time, it was filled with lava. From experience, the Hero knew a wall of fire would appear as soon as he stepped onto the iron patchwork suspended from the ceiling. But he had nowhere else to go…

So he stepped on it, and marveled at the lack of flaming walls that rose out of the lava. He gingerly tiptoed across the platform, noting its slight sway under his weight, before leaping to the next one. An idle glance to his right revealed a blue button behind a set of thick iron bars, and a furtive look to his left confirmed that the door was locked. He would need another wooden box.

So he turned back to the beginning of the chamber and hefted the wooden box there. He jumped across the gap onto the platform, but try as he might, he couldn't make it to the other one. The box was extremely fragile; Link knew from experience that it wouldn't survive a three inch drop. So Link set it down on the stone platform just below the next area and hauled himself on top. He turned to pick up the box, only to stare in horror as its remains burned away. Evidently, he had placed it too close to the lava.

There had to be a way that _didn't_ get him too close to the lava. So Link decided to explore the remainder of the room; maybe there was a button somewhere that he could press that would create a walkway or raise the bars.

So Link continued through the chamber- and noticed another small box by the exit. Groaning at the fact that he had missed it, the Hero of Time jumped onto the stone platform and picked it up before returning back to the second hanging platform.

Excellent. Now he could get to the other side of the room with a box in tow. But as Link made his way to the other side, he came across a problem: the gap between the second hanging platform and the third was just as large as the one between the first and the second, meaning that he simply couldn't reach it without dropping the box. His Goron Tunic, while heat-resistant, wouldn't help him walk across a large pool of magma because he would sink into it. He'd tried it once, back in the other timeline, and it had nearly killed him.

"Er… There's a small box up there," Ivan pointed out from underneath Link's hat, gesturing towards a larger crate just above the blue button.

"Oh yeah," Link noted verbally. "Thanks, Ivan."

"Don't mention it, leetle man. Ivan is just happy to help without having to leave your hat," the sprite answered. "It's too hot for Ivan here."

Link grinned, leaping to the third platform and then clambering up the stone parapet. From there, he grabbed a box and descended into the caged portion, gently setting the crate down on the button.

He expected to hear the slithering of steel on steel that signalled that the door had opened. Instead, he heard the _whoosh_ of something lighting on fire. He looked around, and saw that two torches set into the pillars by the second hanging platform had lit. He also noticed a third lit torch above an unlit torch. And given how he didn't have the Fire Arrows, he assumed that he had to shoot an arrow through the lit torch into the unlit one.

Hookshotting onto the larger crate, Link made his way to the second platform and fired an arrow through the flames. When it missed, Link tried again. The second time, the flaming projectile managed to ignite the brazier, causing the door to open.

He promptly left the room and was met with an empty hallway. Carefully, Link tiptoed through, expecting a Stalfos or a Lizalfos or, worse, a Like Like to drop from somewhere.

But fortunately, they never did.

The next big chamber housed the large pillar from back in the room where Link had talked to Darunia. If he hit it, he could then jump down after it and enter the Boss Room, ending the menace once and for all.

"Hey… isn't that the room where we met with Darunia? Down there, below this pillar?" Ivan pondered.

"Yes, Ivan, it is. If we smash this pillar down there, we can finally face the dragon."

The fairy blinked. "But… there's so much more of the temple we haven't explored yet! Darunia asked you to save his people; what if they're further in the dungeon?"

"I guess we can look at the last cell," Link conceded, jumping over the suspended pillar and through a door. The Hero was blocked from descending to the lower level, but he could see the cell within. It was empty.

"There's nobody in the cell, Ivan," Link said. "And this is the last one I can access. We've saved who we can. Last time, the Gorons came back and found everyone I hadn't been able to rescue. Okay?"

"D-da," Ivan replied shakily.

"All right," Link replied, going out the door he had came from and smashing the Megaton Hammer into the stone pillar. Then he clung onto it for dear life as it came crashing down into the first floor, embedding itself in the magma. Link, by some freak miracle, was unharmed save a slight bit of dizziness.

And his missing eye.

Standing back up, Link leapt over the lava-filled gap onto the platform where his Sworn Brother had once stood. Then he withdrew the Boss Key and jammed it into its receptacle before twisting it, watching as the chains fell away and it creaked open ominously. He stepped through just as it slammed shut again. He put away all of his items save the Megaton Hammer, storing them in his pouch. Then he went to retrieve some water from his canteen, only to remember that the Lava Slug had broken it. Lamenting the lack of ability to slake his mounting thirst, Link composed himself and pushed further into the boss chamber.

**!0*0!**

Even over the cacophonous rumbling of the stone pillar descending into the lava behind him, Link could hear the hissing of the subterranean lava dragon from deep below him. Eventually, she ascended from one of the nine magma-filled holes in the dark stone, spraying flames from her mouth inches from Link's face before descending back into the lava below.

Link approached the center of the dais, eyeing as many of the holes as he could see with his one working eye. As soon as he saw the telltale rippling waves of magma that heralded Volvagia's approach, Link raced over to that hole, hammer ready. However, the lava dragon exited the hole while whipping her flaming locks around, catching Link unawares across the torso. He was flung backwards across the platform, clothes smoking despite their heat-resistant properties.

He gingerly touched his chest and hissed. That was at least one broken rib, he guessed. Link uncorked a fairy and let it swirl around him, healing his wounds as it flew up and out of his sight.

Volvagia, meanwhile, had descended as soon as she had hit Link. Suddenly remembering how this boss fight went, Link pulled his bow out of his pouch and nocked an arrow in it. As soon as the dragon's bulbous nose emerged from the lava, the Hylian loosed the arrow, dealing a small amount of damage. The lava dragon snarled, descending back into the lava below. When she resurfaced, Link was sure to stay out of range before sprinting forwards and laboriously smacking the dragon's snout with the Megaton Hammer. She collapsed, allowing Link to hit her with the much more efficient Master Sword. Squealing in agony, Volvagia dragged herself back into the lava while holding her nose with her talons. Link impatiently waited for her to resurface, sheathing his blade and readying the Megaton Hammer prematurely.

She soon emerged again, flying straight up towards the ceiling. Link attempted to shoot her with arrows, but the dragon was moving too quickly at an angle that prevented Link from hitting her weak point. The Hero of Time knew what was going to happen; she would drop boulders from the roof directly at Link at high speeds, but this could easily be thwarted by hanging onto the side of the dais.

"Is this all you've got, Volvagina?" Link taunted, clinging desperately to the side of the platform.

The dragon responded with a hiss, descending from the ceiling and back into the central lava hole. Link dragged himself back on top, but stumbled when the platform started vibrating. He watched as the lava levels rose to just below the top of the dais, preventing Link from hanging onto the side again. He grunted in derision before hearing the telltale rumbling that heralded Volvagia's appearance. It was coming from behind him, but as soon as Link turned, the rumbling noise started coming from behind him again. Turning, he saw the lava dragon emerge, the force of her arrival upending the entire dais. The whole platform tilted about thirty degrees, a third of it descending below the lava while the rest of it swung upwards. Link, who hadn't expected the platform to start rotating, nearly slid straight into the molten magma, and because of that, only barely managed to get to Volvagia in time to hit her with the Megaton Hammer.

One Master Sword Swing later, the dragon descended once more, only to not reappear when Link thought she was supposed to. For an instant, he wondered where she had gone, only to have his question answered when the entire platform started spinning. He stumbled, and the sudden force had forced him to drop the Megaton Hammer right on top of one of the nine lava holes. Desperately, Link grasped the handle of the Hammer and tried to lift it out of the hole. This choice proved to save him, however, as his grip on the Megaton Hammer was the only thing that stopped him from being flung outwards when the spinning stopped. Now dizzy on top of being in pain, Link barely managed to pick up the Goron's legendary Hammer before Volvagia once again reared her ugly head. He wasn't fast enough to hit her before she started breathing fire, so he summoned his Stalfos Shield and kept going. Luckily, the Shield absorbed the brunt of Volvagia's burning breath and, thanks to Link's increased dark magic reserves, didn't even explode into a shower of black diamonds this time.

Link smacked Volvagia across the face with the Megaton Hammer, successfully dazing the dragon. He then unceremoniously dropped the hammer before drawing the Master Sword and, with all his limited strength, rammed it into the dragon's nose. The movement was so strong that it not only pierced her nose, but also embedded itself in the stone below, effectively pinning the dragon in place.

"Not so strong now, huh, Volvagina?" Link snarled, grunting as he once again hefted the Megaton Hammer. Mustering the last of his strength, he brought the hammer over his head and slammed it into the dragon's head so hard that it dislodged the Master Sword.

As Link picked up the Sword of Evil's Bane, Volvagia slowly slithered back into the lava, clutching its snout in agony before emerging from the central hole of lava. It writhed and thrashed about in the air as it slowly burnt away, leaving only a charred skeleton behind. The bones eventually crashed to the floor, the dragon's head landing just inches in front of Link before it slowly burnt away in a small pool of Blue Fire. Link took some time to catch his breath, as he was breathing quite heavily. The adrenaline that had been pumping through his veins slowly subsided, causing him to stop being numb to the pain his body was in. Even with the power of the healing fairies, splinters of agony shot up his chest with every breath he took, due to the high levels of ash and smoke he had been breathing. There was a minor cut over his good eye, but it was hardly important. More seriously, the bandages protecting his bad eye were charred and partially burnt. He would have to buy more when he got back to Kakariko.

"Has anyone told you that you're vicious when you're fighting?" Ivan thought aloud.

Link smirked. "No, really? I never would have guessed…"

The fairy chortled in response as Link stepped into the light blue portal, whisking him away to the Sacred Realm.

**!0*0!**

"Thank you… Brother? What happened to your _eye_?"

"There was an Iron Knuckle…" Link replied sheepishly. "It caught me off-guard. I, uh… don't really want to talk about it."

"Oh, that's fine. I'm just thinking back to when I first learned about your hand… it was basically the same situation, wasn't it? Me thanking you for saving my people, only to see something disturbing with your body," the Goron rumbled, reminiscing about times when things were more simple. "Anyway, I really appreciate what you've done, on behalf of all of my people. You turned out to be a real man, just as I thought you would!

"By the way, I, the wild Darunia, turned out to be the great Sage of Fire… Isn't that funny? I guess it's what we call destiny."

"I mean, I wasn't all that surprised," Link said. "You… fit the bill for fire perfectly. Wild, untamed, chaotic but in control… just like the flames of Death Mountain."

"True that," Darunia replied. "Nothing has made me happier than helping you seal the evil here! Hey, Brother, take this Medallion that contains the power of the fire spirits- and more importantly, my friendship!"

With far too much fanfare, a red medallion emblazoned with a little fire decal on it fell out of the sky and hit Link on the head. Rubbing his now sore cranium, the Hero made to pick up the coin, relegating it to his Pouch.

His time in the Sacred Realm was fading, but just before his world faded to white, he heard Darunia's voice echo through the void.

"Remember; now you and I are _true_ Brothers!"

Link smiled lazily, content. Two down, three to go. It was always nice, he decided, to meet an old friend.

He felt a pang of longing for Navi, one last time, before finally, _finally_, letting her go.

**Dear God. This chapter is over 12,000 words and 21 pages on Google Docs. Why am I mentioning this? Because it's the singular longest chapter I've ever written, that's why!**

**Why does Adult Link get to escape all the trauma that I put Young Link through? Because he's had the last seven years to mope, and he can get that future… past… time back once he beats Ganondorf.**

**Am I spoiling things? I hope not.**

**NOOTTD: 1. The Interlopers are from TP. It's why the Triforce was in the Sacred Realm to begin with in OOT. As for their ring… well… I needed to upgrade Link's dark magic **_**somehow**_**.**

**2\. The glow on the Iron Knuckle's axe basically means that wounds made by it can't be healed. The basis for Link losing an eye is the fact that the Hero's Shade, aka OOT Link, is missing an eye, specifically his left. So I figured, hey, why not?**

**Review Please!**


	13. Chapter 12: Comprehension

**This is another chapter devoted less to dungeon crawling and more to world building, like Chapters 5 and 8. I hope you guys don't mind if I'm not getting straight to the Ice Cavern, but writing dungeon crawling chapters not only takes forever to do, but it's really draining on my mental faculties.**

**RRRP:**

_ChangelingRin (FF): _Thank you! Also, don't you worry. I think I've done a pretty good job of walking the line between Link's character development that we saw last chapter and also the brutal ramifications of losing an eye. That being said, you only lose about 25% of your vision when you lose an eye, because part of your eyes' cones of sight overlap.

_Guest (FF):_ Honestly, that's kind of what I'm going for. My goal is something that's definitely darker than the vanilla OOT experience, with more threat, danger, and stakes. I did a lot to do that, mostly in subtle ways, but sometimes you just have to give the dead horse more bruises.

Don't take that out of context.

To answer your second question, yes, I am okay. And I don't hate OOT Link, either. But I'm not afraid of treating my characters like tools, a means to an end. If I didn't, I wouldn't be able to bring myself to do a lot of the things that must be done to make a good story.

_Chapter XII: Respite_

The boulders disintegrated into a pile of rubble, revealing a small cave that eventually led to a Great Fairy Fountain. Link stowed the Megaton Hammer back in his pouch and walked through, after Ivan had gone in and dispelled the greater fay's fears. It took longer than usual. Before playing Zelda's Lullaby, though, he leaned over the stone walkway to quench some of his thirst.

Then he froze, staring blankly at the face looking back at him.

The face staring from the water looked like it had been dragged through the dirt before being immolated with unholy flames. His blonde hair was streaked with grime and dust, and even singed in some places. A collection of ratty, half-burnt bandages were wound around his head, slightly brown with all the dirt and sweat that had accumulated there. An abundance of… were those little sprouts of hair growing along his jawline? Why would it grow there? It made it all scratchy and it served no purpose. He had asked Navi about it, all that time ago, along with a host of other embarrassing questions. She'd never answered.

"Ivan? I have a question," the Hylian eventually said.

"What's the question?" the fairy replied.

"What made me turn from a child into… well, this?" Link asked, gesticulating towards his stubble. "I mean, I get that seven years have passed since I was a kid, but… why do I feel so restless, even after finishing the Fire Temple? Why does my voice sometimes randomly change its pitch? Why do I keep-" He stopped, cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

"You never asked… her… about it?" Ivan responded.

"You can use Navi's name, Ivan. I don't think I mind anymore. And whenever I did ask her, she'd change the subject."

"Ah," he said solemnly. "Ivan will give you the fast version. Basically, your body is at an age where it is maturing into a fully-fledged adult. So many of the changes in your body are completely natural. For example, all men grow facial hair like that, but most of them decide to cut it. Some of them don't, like that fellow who ran the Bazaar back in Hyrule Castle Town.

"These changes also pertain to the mind. You've been thinking a lot about girls, haven't you?" Ivan continued, completely serious.

Link blushed even deeper. "I mean, a little, but…"

"That's part of the process too. Leetle man will be fine, as long as you don't do anything stupid. Ivan trusts you."

Clearing his mind and taking a deep breath, Link drew the Master Sword and brought it to his face, carefully cutting the stray hairs along his jawline. He felt bad using the Master Sword to shave, as to some extent he felt like it was alive, but it was either that or look like a half-starved beast that had just dug itself out of the grave.

Once his job was complete, Link wasted no time in procuring the Ocarina of Time and playing Zelda's Lullaby. With a squeal of laughter, the Great Fairy emerged from the fountain, sitting back in midair and propping her head up with the heel of her hand. She stared at Link, daintily.

"Welcome, Link! I am the Great Fairy of Wisdom!" she boomed, flitting her eyelashes suggestively. "I will grant you an enhancement for your magic power. Receive it now!"

She spread her arms, as magical energy spewed forth from her bosom. Link closed his eye in an effort to not let it wander, and instead opted to feel the magical energy within him swell, eventually settling at a size twice as great as it had been before.

"Now you have twice as much magic power," the Great Fairy said. "When battle has made you weary, please come and see me again, will you?"

"You're not even going to- okay," Link sputtered, gesturing towards the bandages wrapped around his face. "Whatever. Ivan said it couldn't be fixed, anyway."

"What couldn't be fixed?"

"There was an Iron Knuckle in the Fire Temple and it kind of cut my eye open," Link explained bluntly, removing his hat and unwrapping the bandages covering his left eye.

The Great Fairy of Wisdom hovered a bit closer, to the point where Link could feel her hot breath on his skin. "I assume it had a glowing axe?"

"How'd you-"

"Your eye socket is covered with magical residue," she explained flippantly. "I can do a little, but not much. The lens in your eye looks to have been completely shattered, and then all the fluid inside came out. I can give your eye its shape back, but unfortunately, because of the circumstances, I won't be able to restore it to its original state. You'll just have to make do."

Without further talk, the fairy spread her arms once again, as even more magical energy emanated into Link. He felt his eye revert back to its normal size as his bandages re-appeared on his face. Eagerly, he peeled them off, only to find that his left eye was somehow even more confusing than before. Everything was completely out of focus and extremely blurry, but he at least didn't have a true blind spot on his left.

Then again, it wasn't like this was any better. Not only was his entire left side blurry and out of focus, but even the part straight ahead was incredibly difficult to discern. Link figured that he'd be better off keeping the bandages on.

"Thank you," Link said somberly. "I'll be going now."

"Fare you well, Hylia's Chosen," the fay said before retreating into her fountain. The room was dark again.

Ivan appeared in the corner of Link's vision, on the right. He stared at Link's left eye for a few seconds. "Do you want Ivan to tell you what it looks like?"

"Sure," Link relented.

"It's still blue, but a paler blue than before," the sprite described. "The pupil is the same shade as your iris, and if you squint, you can see a little scratch on the big part. At a distance, nobody would notice."

Nobody noticed anything about Link, especially his pain. Why would this be any different?

**!0*0!**

"That broken knife is surely my worrrrrrrk…" Biggoron whined, squinting at the hilt Link had _liberated_ from Anjou's father. "I really want to repairrrrrr it, but… because of the errrrrrruption ten minutes ago, my eyes are all irrrrrrritated…"

"Sorry about that," Link whispered.

"There are fine eyedrops in Zora's Domain… You will find them if you go to Kinnnnnng Zorrrrrrra… Please go get the eyedrrrrrrrops…"

"Fine," the Hylian grumbled.

The Goron stopped pawing at his sore eyes and handed Link a tiny piece of paper. It looked like a prescription for eye drops. Link was about to turn to go when he realized something important.

"Oh, and Biggoron? When you fix this knife, could you make it hollow with an interior lattice network of steel? I have a medical condition that prevents me from lifting things that are too big, and the knife is just a hair above my limit."

"I will see what I can do, friennnnnnnnnnd," the large Goron replied tiredly. "But it may cosssssst you… Now go get the eyedrrrrrops already…"

Link nodded, not realizing that the grand Goron couldn't see him due to his sore eyes, and started the long trek down to Kakariko Village. There was a cool wind that day, but not one cold enough to make him shiver. It was just as well; he was going to Zora's Domain next.

And it was _freezing_ there. Completely frozen over, if his memory served him correctly. Which it probably did.

"You know, you took longer in there than you usually do," Link noted, referring to Ivan's time spent convincing the Great Fairy to let him into her Fountain. "What was that about?"

"Great Fairy gave Ivan boon as well, if you must know," the fairy responded, sounding particularly smug. "Ivan's Mind Hacking has been upgraded so that Ivan can Mind Hack more efficiently. It still has that time limit and recharge, but Ivan now has more control over his host, and can Mind Hack stronger enemies, assuming they have no mental wards. Got it?"

"That's really cool! Congratulations!" Link lauded, feeding Ivan's ego as they approached Kakariko proper. The tektikes were still there, but the bokoblin population was nowhere to be seen. The Hero of Time wasn't complaining; after fighting Ganon, he was a bit wary of pigs in general.

**!0*0!**

New Lon Ranch was enjoying its first sunny day in more than six years. The smog from the constantly erupting Death Mountain had smothered the village for the entirety of Ganon's domain, blocking the sun's rays from reaching any of the village. Unfortunately, this only underscored the pitiful condition the ranch was in; the crops had all died long ago, the animals were thin and sickly, and everything had a fine dusting of ash coating it. Still, it was better sunny than overcast, Link decided.

Then again, maybe it was just the fact that Malon was singing. Yeah, it was probably that.

Link breathed in the fresh air, stepping into the ranch. He had somehow managed to avoid everyone else, and had snuck into the farm without anyone seeing him, even Commander Rusl. He would drop by the knights' base of operations- Impa's old home- soon enough, but first came Malon.

He unslung the Master Sword from over his right shoulder, set it down inside the barn and realized he was still wearing the Goron tunic. He decided to keep it on; he looked good in red.

He exited the barn and stole into the vast fields, following his pointed ears to the beautiful sounds the farmer was making. Several times, he found himself moving in the opposite direction of the noise on instinct; some primal part of his body still thought he was nose-deep in the Fire Temple and was skittish as a result. Eventually, he found her scattering seeds in a recently-plowed patch of land. Feeling awkward, he coughed, only to not get a response. Sighing, he procured his ocarina and started an accompaniment to the song, hoping that the blue instrument would get her attention. She whirled around and saw Link and his fairy standing there, looking back at her. She dropped the seeds she was holding and slowly walked up to the Hero of Time.

Then she punched him in the face.

Link stumbled, clutching his smarting nose. "What the hell was _that_ for!"

Ivan took ten Rupees from Link's wallet. Great. Now he was almost broke again.

"_That_," Malon replied, "was for being an idiot. I know you went to the Fire Temple by yourself, because the volcano finally stopped erupting and none of the knights left their posts. You should have taken at least half of them with you to keep you safe! And what happened to your _eye_? Why's it all wrapped up? Did something happen to you?"

"There was an Iron Knuckle, this giant suit of armor with a big axe, in the Fire Temple…" Link replied, sheepishly scratching the back of his neck. "It hit my eye, and now everything in it is so blurry that it's easier to just keep it covered up. And to answer your implied question, taking the knights from Kakariko not only would have left the town defenseless, but it would have slowed me down and cost too many lives. You see, there was this dragon in the volcano called Volvagia that was causing all the eruptions. It could only be harmed by a massive Goron Hammer that I, quite honestly, can barely even lift. Bringing the knights wouldn't have helped. I hope you understand."

The ranch owner blinked. She said nothing for a few seconds. "Fine," she relented, stepping closer to Link. The Hero of Time, unsure of what was going on, did nothing as Malon walked up to him and pulled him into a tight embrace. Awkwardly, Link's arms reciprocated the expression, although they really just hung there. Still, though, nothing in Link didn't enjoy the contact, even if he was so used to the searing pain of being attacked by a whole host of monsters that any other physical sensation felt strange.

Echoing shouts met their ears a little bit later, and the pair hastily parted before anyone saw them. Ivan grumbled something about them ruining the ambience before darting under Link's conical hat.

"Malon! Rusl is here and he's asking for- oh! Link! Commander Rusl is asking for you! Please come with me!" Anjou said, bursting from the fields of dilapidated rye and half leading, half dragging Link away from Malon. Link internally lamented it, but said nothing.

They made their way through the farm and eventually showed up by the main entrance, where the knight's commander was waiting.

"Ah! Link! Just the man I wanted to see!" Rusl laughed, slapping Link's back roughly. "What happened to your _eye?_"

"There was an Iron Knuckle in the Fire Temple," Link admitted.

"So, am I right to assume that you were the one to stop the eruptions?" Rusl interjected.

"I mean… yeah, but-"

"I knew it!" Rusl said, cutting Link off. By this time, they had made it to what was once Impa's old house. Rusl pushed the Hero of Time inside, and then shut the door, locking it behind him.

"Alright, look. I get that you've done a great deed for all of us by stopping the eruptions. But as far as I'm concerned, you're still a threat," Rusl stated, dropping the facade of unadulterated friendliness. "You came out of nowhere with a sword, spouting something about said sword putting you in a coma and being locked in the Temple of Time for seven years, meaning you were locked inside at almost exactly a year before Ganondorf suddenly took over the Kingdom and almost exactly when King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule died. I don't believe in coincidence, and by proxy, I don't trust you."

"Finally," Link said exasperatedly. "Someone with a healthy sense of paranoia. I was beginning to think everyone in Kakariko was blindly trusting. Hallelujah for that, am I right?"

"See, this is what I mean!" Rusl sighed. "You send so many mixed messages, and whenever I think I've got you figured out, you say something like that and upend all of it. I'm going to have to demand an explanation, and if you could make it quick, that'd be great. I have to plan a celebration for the village regarding the end of the eruptions."

"Okay, but I'm going to have to start out from the beginning. Were you around for the Unification War?"

"I didn't serve in it, but my father did. He was present at the Battle of Khalonir and slew nearly fifty Catalian knights," Rusl supplied. "I think you can still see the ruins of Khalonir, Catalia's capital, down by Lake Hylia."

"All right. My dad was also a knight in the War," Link explained, fishing out the little medallion the Deku Tree had given him. "I never met him, as he and my mother both died shortly after I was born. To escape the fires of that war, my mother transported me into the Lost Woods, where I had to be raised as a Kokiri for reasons I'll get into later. Are you still with me?"

"Yes, but-"

"Don't worry, I'm getting there. Ten years later, the Great Deku Tree, the sovereign guardian of the forest, was cursed by Ganondorf and died. I was entrusted with warning Princess Zelda about Ganondorf, and then _she_ sent me to collect the Spiritual Stones so that we could get the Triforce before Ganondorf could. But right before we were about to do it, Ganondorf attacks, kills King Daphnes, and forces Zelda to escape. Then he threatens to slaughter all of Hyrule if I didn't draw the Master Sword from the Temple of Time, and I had no choice but to draw it. That let Ganondorf get a third of the Triforce, but he doesn't know that I got a third of it too.

"Anyway, because I was too young to wield the Sword, it sealed me in the Sacred Realm for seven years. Now I'm trying to fix everything by awakening the Sages, which basically forces me to go through all the Temples that are oozing dark energy and cleanse them. One of them was causing all the eruptions. I assume another is poisoning all the water. Speaking of which, is there any drinking water here?"

"No," Rusl denied.

"Drat. Oh well. Anyway, there's the story. Go plan your party, but make sure there's not nothing to drink. I'm sure everyone could use it."

With that, Link unlocked the door, walked out of the house, and gently closed it behind him. He heard Rusl chuckle goodnaturedly before the wooden door eased itself shut.

"That kid's crazy," he heard Rusl's muffled voice say, "but somehow, it makes sense."

**!0*0!**

True to Rusl's words, there was a town-wide celebration planned for that evening. According to rumor, children weren't allowed for some reason. Link wondered why.

Some of the other knights had asked him to join the Hyrulean Knights proper. The Hero of Time had refused, citing freedom to operate as his reasoning. Being tied to Kakariko would hurt, weaken, and effectively upend his ability to fix everything for everyone. But he had been tempted by the offer nonetheless.

The Master Sword was still in the barn, fortunately. The Hylian decided to move it to the ranch house for safekeeping, to ensure that it wasn't stolen by anyone. It probably wouldn't be, but it _was_ the Master Sword. It was better to be cautious with it.

Twenty-four years had passed. His date of birth was seventeen years ago. He had lived about eleven years. And according to Ivan, he acted about thirteen or fourteen. So which was he? Was he a teen, a child, or a young adult? Or was he something else entirely? Some phase in life he didn't have a word for?

He shoved the thoughts out of his mind, only for them to echo back in a cacophonous roar. Detachedly, he felt and heard Ivan do and say something, but the Hylian didn't process it. Instead, he sat there blankly, on the edge of a chair, contemplating his reality.

He wasn't sure how long he was there, enraptured by his own thoughts. Eventually, he was shaken from his doldrums by a gentle tap on the shoulder. He slowly swiveled in place, and saw Malon standing over him.

"Want to talk about it?" she asked.

"I'm fine, Malon," Link responded through gritted teeth. "I'm just thinking. About stuff."

"Like what? She pushed, taking a seat right next to him.

"Nothing."

"Link. I'm a farmer. I know bullshit when I see it."

He was silent. Why _wasn't_ he talking about it? Even the abridged version of his tale he had told Rusl had felt so liberating to finally put into words. Maybe this was what he needed. Maybe it was because he had never said anything that nobody remembered in the first place.

Then he sighed. "It's about who I am. You know the story about how I was locked in the Temple of Time for seven years?"

"Sealed, you mean."

"Yeah. Because I got sealed, I never technically grew up these last seven years. It was an instantaneous change for me. That seven year gap passed in an instant. So… what am I? Am I seventeen? Ten? Something in between?

"And now I'm here. Doing it all over again. What does that make me now?"

He put his head in his hands, dry sobs cleaving through his body. He had gone too far, hadn't he?

"A… again?" Malon repeated.

Yes. Definitely too far. Or was it not far enough? Link had lost himself in a tidal wave of confession.

"Again," Link confirmed."I've done all of this before. That time I told Rusl about where I'd come from… that was only half of the story. I fought and killed another Ganondorf, rescued another Malon from when Ingo took over Old Lon Ranch, and freed another Hyrule, where left was right and right was left. Or maybe it was a Hyrule where forwards was backwards and vice versa. It doesn't matter.

"I saved that Hyrule… and then, she sent me back. They said they would remember all of it. That we would stop Ganondorf before he ever got the Triforce in the first place.

"They lied."

He took a deep breath before continuing. "I tried to get it all back. The first few steps of my second excursion were excruciating. But to tell you the truth, going forwards seven years was almost… gratifying. I don't know. It's hard to describe. But… maybe now, I won't- have to go back again. A third loop would be the end of me."

He finally stopped talking. His throat was about twice as dry as the Haunted Wastelands. "You can hate me if you want. I wouldn't blame you. Just…"

Whatever he was going to say next got stuck in his throat when Malon, who had been silent the whole time, scooted closer and tugged him into yet another embrace. Instinctually, Link returned the gesture with only slightly less vigor.

"I'm sorry, Fairy Boy," she whispered. "I had no idea any of that had ever happened. It must have been very hard for you."

"No one knows anything. Not even Ze- the princess. We're the only ones who know about it, excluding Ivan, and honestly, I plan to keep it that way."

They sat there in amicable silence for a few minutes, undisturbed.

"And for the record," Malon started, causing Link to jerk between her arms. "I don't care who you are, so long as you're m- Link."

A dazed grin spread across Link's features as he processed her sincere-sounding words. He was happy. No- happy didn't cut it. He was elated. Euphoric. Ecstatic. No, none of them really fit how he felt at that instant. He felt all warm and fuzzy inside, which was good, because he would need as much heat as possible for the Ice Cavern.

He finally had someone to confide everything in. That was a first, a first in both timelines.

**I wasn't intending to write that last fluffy scene. I was actually intending to get more into the party [or at least, an excuse for one] and shed more light on Kakariko's state. Plus, TF2 Demoman was going to get a cameo. You can… probably see where that was going, what with the fact that he's a **_**drunken Scottish cyclops**_**.**

**NOOTTD: I don't think there was anything this chapter. Cool.**

**Review Please!**


	14. Chapter 13: Fearsome Frostbite

**So, on to the first mini-dungeon! And as you'll notice, it's also a mini-chapter! Which is great, because finals are just around the corner and I really ought to be studying for my 3 AP's!**

**Why do I put myself through this…**

**RRRP:**

_ChangelingRin (FF): _Keep in mind that Link's got a ton of gauze wrapped around his busted eye. That's what's drawing most of the attention, and not the eye itself. Regardless, we're breaking through Link's armor, bit by bit.

_Chapter XIII: Fickle Frozen Fallacies_

Link awoke suddenly, his right eye having sensed motion in front of him even while he was asleep.

"Gah! Redeads! Wolves! Redeads riding wolves!" he yelled, scrambling into a standing position and reaching over his shoulder for a sword that was no longer there.

Ivan chortled. Malon was staring right between his eyes with a consoling look on her face. Link glared at his partner, racking through his memories of the preceding few hours. He was shocked to find that he had no recollection of anything since confessing everything to the rancher.

"Uh… what happened last night? I don't remember any of it," the Hero of Time asked groggily.

"Ivan will fill you in," the fairy answered, preventing the ranch owner from saying anything. "We went to the party, and o put it bluntly, you have no tolerance. Ivan is being serious. Leetle man was out cold. Ivan will not lie, it was hilarious. But Ivan had to Mind Hack you all the way back to New Lon Ranch. You wouldn't have had any of it, but they had run out of milk by the time you got there. Ivan figured it was okay if you had a little, but… evidently not. Are you experiencing any side effects? A pounding migraine, for example? Nausea? Sensitivity to light?"

Link thought for a moment. "Well… no…"

"Ah, good. We can get to Zora's Domain faster then. Epona has been saddled and given enough supplies to last you a fortnight."

"Half a fortnight," Malon corrected.

"Same difference, da?"

"Probably," Link agreed, collecting all of his belongings, which were conveniently already localized in the ranch house. "I'll see you soon, okay, Mal?"

"Mal…" she said, letting the nickname flow off her tongue. "I like it."

Link smiled good-naturedly, swung himself on top of Epona, and galloped into Hyrule Field.

The wind was cool.

**!0*0!**

Just like last time, the Domain had frozen. Every drop of warm water that had once filled the home of the aquatic folk had turned to ice. The effects had spread to even outside Zora's Domain; snow coated the banks of Zora's River and the poisonous water that flowed through it was deathly cold.

Unlike last time, however, the ice was a charred black, and a muted red in some places. A fierce cold wind permeated the Domain, ensuring that every inch was the same frigid temperature. Even separating the waterfall protecting the Domain had proved a challenge, as large Red Ice crystals had formed at the lip of the waterfall and diverted all the water right in front of the entrance. Therefore, playing Zelda's Lullaby did nothing. Link had had to return to Kakariko Village, release a fairy from one of his bottles, and buy a vial of Blue Fire for all of his Rupees. Only then could he melt the Red Ice and gain access to Zora's Domain.

Or what was left of it, anyway.

"O Bogini," Ivan whispered, astounded. "How did this happen?"

"Ganondorf did it," Link explained. "Simple enough. Although the ice wasn't black last time."

"No, it's not that. Does leetle man remember that dark mage we met? What was his name? Nierak?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, Ivan senses his signature all over the place. Evidently, he must have done a lot of running around before he left."

Link blinked back tears. He had done this to the Zoras, save their most volatile member. His negligence had allowed a part of his horrible future to come to pass. He hung his head in shame.

Ivan looked at him dryly. "Ivan knows that look in your eyes… er, eye. Don't you dare blame yourself for this. There was no way you could have known the water would become toxic. Not even Ivan knew, and Ivan is the historian in our party. Ladno?"

"You're right," Link sighed. "As usual."

Ivan laughed as his partner trotted up the steps towards what was once King Zora's throne room. The King, however, was frozen in a giant crystal of Red Ice, and Link didn't particularly feel like walking all the way back to Kakariko just to melt him when Blue Fire could be found in the Ice Cavern pretty easily.

He took a left, ascending to pass King Zora's crystalline prison, only to glance to his right and nearly choke on his own surprise. There was a single hand, reaching towards the exit. Then there was another. Two left hands, one significantly fatter than the other. Link's mind flashed back to finding Talon and Ingo's charred corpses on the darkest hour of Summer's Day, but these hands weren't charred; rather, they were frozen in the ice. Still, the resemblance was uncanny and more than enough to evoke painful memories of the times he failed.

He forced himself to move on. Getting hung up on the past only hurt him, after all.

**!0*0!**

Lord Jabu-Jabu was gone, evidently having fled Zora's Domain when Ganondorf came to power. In his place was a myriad of giant rotating icebergs, and a few Octoroks patrolled the frigid waters. Link summoned his shield and darted on top of the icebergs, deflecting any attacks that the octopi tried to hit him with. He took a right at the center of the lake and deftly maneuvered across the frozen expanse, eventually hauling himself into a gaping cave entrance. Frigid air radiated from it like heat from Death Mountain, but he stepped through nonetheless. The Hylian did, however, change from the Goron Tunic to his forest green Kokiri tunic; heat-retardant garb was probably the last thing he needed.

The Ice Cavern began with a cramped hallway full of, well, ice. Link took a gentle left, blindly racing forwards- only to be nearly run over by a giant boulder. Slipping on the slick ice floor, Link only barely managed to sidestep to the right in time to avoid the large rolling stone. He took a second to regain his composure, before slashing open a nearby pot and revealing a Green Rupee.

The Hylian shivered before drawing the Master Sword and hacking through several stalagmites of ice. As soon as the next boulder rolled past him, Link darted further down the hallway and barely avoided another boulder.

The corridor opened to a large cube-shaped room with two Tektites and an ice statue. The way forwards was sealed with a crystalline structure, which the Hero of Time assumed would dissipate when the enemies were defeated. Link knew from experience that the ice statue was alive and would freeze him with its breath. He despised being frozen.

He allowed the leftmost Tektike to hit him, Backapparating behind the attack and jump slashing at the statue. The blow caused the entire top half of the statue to crumble, leaving only the base behind. Another solid whack with the pommel of the Master Sword and the ice statue was history.

Link charged a Spin Attack and released it when both Tektikes were in range, slaughtering both of them instantly. They dissolved into green fire, but when the Hylian turned to progress, the wall of ice was still there.

"Huh…" Link muttered. "How do we get rid of that?"

"Din's Fire?" Ivan suggested.

"No, there aren't any torches," the swordsman refuted, scanning the room once again. There were several raised platforms tucked into the corners, but there was no way to get on top of them. More importantly, Link couldn't see anything on top of them. Just a myriad of frozen crystals. Maybe the crystal blocking the way forwards was vulnerable to explosives? No, that wasn't it, as his bombs did nothing to the structure.

"Ha!" Ivan suddenly exclaimed, flying over to the platform just to the left of the sealed hallway and turning green to notify Link of something. "There's a diamond switch here!"

"Where? I don't see anything!" Link hollered back angrily. "Just ice crystals!"

"Right here!" Ivan replied loudly, perching himself on a well-camouflaged diamond switch. "Shoot this with your bow!"

Instead, Link grabbed his Hookshot and pointed it at the disguised switch. The pointed head struck the crystal with a resounding ding, and the crystal blocking the corridor disappeared.

The Hylian shivered once, then progressed forwards, nearly getting himself crushed by the giant boulder that rolled through the tiny hallway.

**!0*0!**

A White Wolfos sprinted at a shieldless Link, intending to rip him open with its razor-sharp claws. The Hylian in question had drawn his sword, muscles tense, ready to leap backwards and allow the Wolfos to expose its vulnerable backside.

Ivan, however, had other ideas.

The Wolfos stopped dead, eyes glowing Ivan's borderline purple. Then it turned around, flaunting its back at Link and sat on its haunches. Link drove the Master Sword into its spine, ending the White Wolfos' life in an instant. This gave the pair plenty of time to react to and deal with the ice statues that spontaneously emerged from the frozen floor. When they had all been defeated, a gateway to the left that had previously been blocked opened.

"Okay, that was pretty good, Ivan," Link congratulated on seeing his partner emerge from the corpse.

Ivan said nothing, but clearly swelled with pride. Then he yawned, something Link had never seen or heard a fairy do. "A, uh… slight downside is that it makes Ivan very tired. Ivan will be taking a rest now. Holler if you need Ivan."

Without saying anything else, the sprite slipped under Link's hat. The Hylian then left the room through the left entrance, slashing down the giant icicles in his way.

The next room contained a cauldron spewing Blue Fire straight in front of him, an altar of Red Ice to his left, and a Skullwalltula to his right. Link ignored the Skullwalltula, and instead opted to grab his empty bottle. He contemplated emptying one of his other two bottles, but the Healing Fairies inside would be critical if he got too injured, and he could always backtrack to get more Blue Fire from here. With that in mind, Link stepped forwards and only filled the one bottle with the unnatural flames.

On the way out, he caught sight of a diamond switch embedded in the ice and hidden behind a column of ice to what was now his right. When it was activated, a chest appeared inside of the altar of red fire. Knowing what he had to do, the Hero stepped towards the ice formation and released the Blue Fire from his bottle. It spread around him and melted all of the Red Ice, allowing Link to open the chest and see what was inside.

It was a Dungeon Map. If only it had been the Iron Boots.

Refilling on Blue Fire, Link returned to the room at the center of his Map. According to the Map, there were two ways he could go, either up or to the right. Going up lead to a dead end, so he opted to go that way, to ensure that he didn't miss anything. There may have been something like the Interloper Ring back there.

After melting the Red Ice blocking the way, Link ran blindly past the two ice statues and rolling boulders that inhabited the thankfully wide hallway. After that, he ended up in a rather large chamber. There was a thin, frail-looking ice path that led up to another cauldron emitting blue fire. There was also a chest on the highest platform and two ice statues, each on different platforms.

By this time, he was at the center of the room, absentmindedly fingering a bomb. Link panicked when a third ice statue appeared out of nowhere and nearly froze Link with its breath. In his haste, he lobbed a bomb at it, not only ending its life but also triggering a diamond switch that he had had no idea existed. The switch caused another crystal cube to disappear, wedged under which was a heart-shaped piece of glass, some of which was red. It must have been some kind of ornament or something.

After taking the trinket and laboriously killing the ice statues with the Hookshot, Link kicked open the large chest and retrieved a Compass. In other words, he had wasted his time. Perfect.

Dejectedly, the Hylian made his way back to the central room and melted another barrier of Red Ice. He stepped into the tight corridor that lay beyond it, only to collide with yet another massive boulder. Grunting in pain, Link picked himself up and carried on.

The next room was a massive ice-filled chamber. There was an inaccessible cauldron of Blue Fire on the other side of the room, and it was filled with short ice pillars that would serve as stopping points for the-

Wait. Where was the big sliding ice platform that Link could use to get places? There must have been a way around it. Contemplative, he jumped down from the slightly raised platform, only to be caught off guard by the White Wolfos that suddenly appeared. The Hylian dodged its attack and then countered, killing the Wolfos, but he wasn't expecting an Ice Keese to sneak up behind him and freeze him in an ice cube. Breaking himself free, Link wasted no time in killing the Keese and the other Keese on the other side of the room, using Din's Fire to warm himself up.

He was surprised when he heard a high-pitched sound, like a chime. He turned around, only to see that he had accidentally hit a diamond switch on the ceiling, right by the entrance. Evidently, this had caused a set of crystal blocks to disappear, revealing a Gold Skulltula but also preventing Link from going where the map said he needed to go. So he killed the Gold Skulltula, collecting its Token, before returning to the room entrance and Hookshotting the switch again. This brought back the crystals, allowing Link to proceed once again.

Or at least it would have, had the path forwards not been blocked with Red Ice. Link eyed the Blue Fire in the back of the room. There must have been a way to get there. Maybe he could jump from one of the short pillars right next to the alcove.

Indeed he could, although just barely. He filled his bottle with Blue Fire, then jogged over to the other side of the room and hauled himself up on the crystals. Melting the Red Ice, the Hylian went back to retrieve another bottle's worth of Blue Fire before continuing forth.

The small corridor in front of him appeared to be plagued by a rather large infestation of Ice Keese. A bout of Din's Fire turned the Ice Keese into normal Keese, and a few arrows later, they were dead.

He pushed forwards, past the charred black ice, and into the last room of the Ice Cavern.

**!0*0!**

The last room was a lot like Link remembered it. Like the rest of the Cavern, it was completely frozen, and the floor was slick to the touch. However, this chamber seemed to stretch on forever, although it quickly faded to black. If he squinted, Link could make out Zoras frozen in the ice. Expressions of terror were etched into each of their faces, just like last time.

The only differences were that the ice was black and there was a Stalfos instead of a White Wolfos. Link must have killed them all earlier in the Ice Cavern.

Link barely had time to summon his shield before the Stalfos' bronze blade slammed into it. Link suffered no bodily harm, but his Dark Magic had taken a rather hefty hit. The living combatant countered by swiftly jabbing the Master Sword into the dead combatant's ribcage. The Stalfos shook it off and brought its guard up, preventing Link from attacking for a short while. In the meantime, Link dispelled his own Shield and prepared to dodge the Stalfos' next attack. He did so successfully, and then threw a Deku Nut directly at the Stalfos' feet. The ensuing flash stunned his opponent, despite the fact that it had no real eyes and shouldn't have been able to see anyway. Link took the opportunity to jump slash it in the back, which dealt major damage to the skeleton, but not enough to kill it.

So he threw the Master Sword at the Stalfos like a javelin, blade first. Despite the fact that Link had never held a spear in his life, much less thrown one, the skeleton seemed surprised enough that it dropped its guard and allowed the blade of evil's bane to embed itself in its cranium. It then collapsed and disintegrated. As Link picked up the Master Sword from its remains, he kicked open the chest that had appeared and tugged out the Iron Boots. Well, they weren't really Iron Boots, just an enchantment that let Link sink like a stone by dramatically increasing the weight of his boots. It also severely limited his mobility, though, so he didn't use it unless necessary.

He turned, and shouldn't have been as shocked as he was to see Sheik standing there. But he was surprised enough to take a step back. She blanched the instant he turned around. "Why is your eye all bandaged up?" she demanded.

"There was an Iron Knuckle in the Fire Temple and it cut my eye open. Now everything I see with it is so blurry that it's easier to keep it wrapped up. Anyway, welcome to the party," Link drawled. "All the Zoras are frozen and the water is poison. Can you teach me the Serenade of Water now?"

The disguised princess looked affronted. "Why do you hate me?"

Link blinked, confused by her bluntness. "Come again?"

"Why do you hate me?" she repeated.

"I don't hate you," Link argued.

"But you clearly do," Sheik shot back. "If you didn't, you wouldn't act that way around me."

"How do you mean? It's not like I lose all compassion whenever I'm around you," Link said.

"But don't you see? I've been observing how you talk to people, and there's a certain tone of voice you use only when you're talking to me. It's angry. Depressed. Like every syllable either of us say is a punch to your gut. And I can't help but feel… that it's _me_."

_Damn straight it's you_, Link thought. _If you just hadn't fucking _forgotten _in the first place, we wouldn't be having this conversation. This is all _your _fault._

_Wait, where did that come from?_

"I… no. I don't think it's you," Link forced himself to say, despite the fragments of his mind that screamed the contrary. "In fact, I know it's not you. The problem is that I'm getting hung up on the past. And if Ivan has taught me anything-" he nodded at his fairy partner, who was at this point very much awake- "it's that fixating yourself on the past never gets anyone anywhere."

Ivan grinned.

"So, no. You're not doing anything wrong. I just need to adapt," Link finished.

Sheik stood silent for a second, then nodded. "Once again, I'm sorry for allowing Ganondorf to enter the Sacred Realm in the first place. That's my fault."

"But I warned you that that was a danger in the first place."

"Which makes it all the worse that I gave the Ocarina of Time to you on the day that Ganondorf betrayed us," Sheik countered. "And Ganondorf forced you to draw the Master Sword by threatening to slaughter every single one of Hyrule's denizens. You aren't at fault. I am."

Link blinked. "Okay, so it's not my fault. Remind me to never argue with the bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom again. But it's not yours either. It's Ganondorf's. He was the one that killed your dad, killed the Great Deku Tree, cursed Lord Jabu-Jabu, starved the Gorons, and became the King of Evil."

"You're right," Sheik accepted.

"Anyway, does the Water Temple have anything to do with the cursed water from Zora's River?"

"Yes, actually, it does," the Sheikah confirmed. "As long as the curse holding the Zoras frozen in the ice remains, so does the curse poisoning the water. I managed to save the Zora princess from the ice, but she left for the Water Temple… and the monster in the Water Temple is the source of both of the curses. Unless you destroy the evil, the ice will never melt, nor with the water ever become cleansed. Now, let me teach you the melody that will lead you to the temple.

"Time passes, people move… Like a river's flow, it never ends. A childish mind will turn to noble ambition… Young love will become deep affection… The clear water's surface reflects growth… Now listen to the Serenade of Water to reflect upon yourself…"

She procured her harp and plucked five notes of ascending order. This song never failed to send shivers up Link's spine; nor did the sensation of suddenly remembering playing the song over and over again, clear as day.

"Link… I'll see you again…"

Last time, Link had tried to stop her from disappearing, in order to unveil her identity. Now, he simply let her go. He took a deep breath, somehow feeling refreshed.

"Leetle man… that was…" Ivan started.

"Surprising?" the Hylian suggested.

"Nyet… frankly, Ivan is unsure of why it took you that long to truly accept it. But still, Ivan thought you handled that exquisitely."

"Yeah… I think so, too," Link replied.

It didn't matter how he felt about the first Zelda. To be quite honest, he still hated her guts. But this new Zelda hadn't betrayed him. This new Zelda had talked to and seen him on a much more personal level than before. Maybe that would be enough to stop her from trying to send him back once Ganondorf was killed again. Maybe he'd be free.

They may have been the same, but to Link, everyone he had ever met was inherently different from themselves, or at least the incarnations of themselves in the first timeline. Only Link remained. Only Link remembered.

And that was okay.

**!0*0!**

"Oh- I've come back to life!" King Zora XVI proclaimed, stating the obvious. "Was it you who saved me? Don't be nervous! You must have a hard time breathing underwater. As an expression of my gratitude, take this tunic. With it, you won't choke underwater."

Link accepted the gift happily, but wasn't done just yet. Mutely, he procured Biggoron's eye drop prescription and handed it to the Zora King.

"Ooh… this is… well… hmmmm… hmmmm… eye drops… You might say we have them, you might say we don't… We do have the ingredients. If you take them to the doctor in the Lakeside Laboratory, he can make the drops for you. But you need to deliver them fresh… Can you make it before they spoil?"

"Definitely," Link said.

The Zora King then gave him a literal frog with eyes the size of small plates. Without skipping a beat, Link pulled out his ocarina and played the Serenade of Water, instantly warping to Lake Hylia.

The lake, similar to Zora's River, was full of corrupted liquid instead of water, giving the once-pristine body of water a sinister appearance. Most of the water had also drained from the lake, revealing the barren lakebed. Errantly looking about, Link spied something south of the lake that he had somehow never seen before. It looked like a destroyed city.

"Hey, Ivan?"

"Da?"

"What're those ruins over there, down south? I never noticed them before."

"Those," Ivan said, going into full scholar mode, "are the ruins of Khalonir, what was once the capital city of Catalia. The city was the site of the last battle of the Unification War and saw the end of Catalia as its own country when it surrendered to Hyrule after its defeat. The Hylians torched Khalonir to the ground, as a show of strength, shortly before the peace treaty was signed."

"It looks… familiar…" Link noted.

"Didn't you not see them before?"

"I didn't… And that's what irks me. It's probably nothing, I guess. I need to get this frog to the lab before it decomposes."

With that, Link jogged across the rotting wooden bridge towards what was once the shore of Lake Hylia, thoughts of Catalia and Khalonir dancing across his mind. He couldn't shake the feeling that he had seen it at some point.

He was jolted from his doldrums by the unearthly scream that echoed across the vast expanse. Mustering his wits, the Hylian sprinted the rest of the way across the bridge, only to see one of those ancient demons- the stick-like bird one- swinging its long beak at the door to the laboratory.

"K-kumangiriza," Ivan whispered. "They're weak to blunt trauma, especially at the small of the back and at the knees. You'll want to use the Megaton Hammer to deal maximum damage. Arrows are ineffective because you're not going to hit it, due to its thinness."

Link silently nodded, hefting the Megaton Hammer in both hands and only barely managing to lift it. Muscles straining, he charged at the Kumangiriza, only for it to notice him and swipe at him with its lengthy beak. The attack hit Link and sent him flying across the plain nearly forty feet. Grunting, Link got himself back on his feet in barely enough time to scramble away from the Kumangiriza's next swipe, which swung down into the earth just inches from where he had laid seconds before. It disengaged itself from the ground with practiced ease, and made to swing at Link again.

But this time, he was prepared.

"Ferreus," he whispered, and his boots became encased in iron. The change in Link's weight prevented the eldritch demon from being able to fling him away like a leaf in the wind, and despite sustaining an injury, the Hylian stayed put. This allowed him to smash the Megaton Hammer into the Kumangiriza's left forelimb, causing the beast to squeal as it desperately tried to counter. The Hero of Time narrowly avoided the beak and grasped it as it passed, very thankful that he was wearing greaves. If he hadn't, his fingers would have been amputated.

Stopping the Kumangiriza's momentum with his own weight caused the beast to lose its footing, toppling onto its side. Link dispelled his Iron Boots as the abomination thrashed wildly in an effort to escape. Only when it was laying down did it occur to Link just how _large_ it was; its beak stretched nearly two and a half times his own height, and it stood at about thrice his height at the shoulder. Despite being stick-thin, the Kumangiriza was covered in wiry muscle pulsing just below its skin. It was unnerving just to look at; things like this just shouldn't exist.

Shaking the thoughts out of his mind, Link drove the Megaton Hammer into its midsection, a jarring snapping noise echoing through the Lake. The Kumangiriza screeched, foaming at the mouth and jerking about like a fish out of water before finally going limp. It was still alive, given the crazed look in its amber eyes as it stared up at nothingness.

Link sighed, putting away the Megaton Hammer and opening the door to the Lakeside Laboratory. The old man who inhabited it didn't look the least bit fazed; he had probably gotten used to the demons by now.

Wordlessly, he retrieved the Eyeball Frog and showed it to the old man.

"Oh, wowie! I haven't seen an Eyeball Frog like this since Zora's Domain froze over!" the scientist exclaimed, appearing thoroughly stupefied. "Those eyeballs are quite delicious! I will feast on fried eyeballs tonight for the first time in ages! Uhoy hoy hoo houy hoy! Such great stuff! Please say thank you to King Zora!"

The old man started doing a little dance on the spot. A justifiably weirded-out Hero of Time coughed awkwardly.

"No… this is for an eye drop prescription… for Biggoron…" Link explained hesitantly.

"Eh? What?! Oh, how disappointing! You should have said so from the beginning! Shame on you!" the old man pouted, slapping Link across the face and nearly making him drop the Eyeball Frog. He snatched the frog from Link's hands and turned to his desk, fussing around for a few seconds before turning around again.

"Here it is…" the scientist said dejectedly. "It doesn't have any preservatives in it, so it won't last long at this temperature. Run as fast as you can to Death Mountain- you're young, you'll do just fine!"

Quietly saying his thanks, Link grabbed the vial of eye drops and sprinted out the door, slamming it shut behind him. Then, he grabbed his ocarina and played the Bolero of Fire, warping straight into Death Mountain. It was way hotter than he remembered; he wasn't wearing the Goron Tunic. Dashing out of the crater, Link ended up right at the precipice of Death Mountain. He handed the Eye Drops to Biggoron, who was still bemoaning his fate.

"Reallllllly? You brrrrrrrrought the eyedrrrrrrops? I'm so rrrrrrrrrelieved! I'm going to use them rrrrrrrright now!"

The sound of dripping could be heard all throughout Hyrule.

"Wowwwwwwwwwww!" Biggoron crowed, striking a comical pose. "This is stimulating! It's worrrrrking grrrrrreat! Now I can get back to my blade business! My worrrrrrrk is not verrrrrrrry consistent, so I'll give this to you so you don't forrrrrget. After a few days… just wait patiently…"

"Okay, but can we do the whole steel-lattice thing on the inside?" Link inquired.

"Yessssssss, but it willllll cost you," the Goron blacksmith replied.

"Let me look in my wallet," Link said, pawing through his Pouch for his purse. He knew he was pathetically low on Rupees thanks to Ivan and the Red Ice, but maybe he was wrong?

A Deku Stick dropped out of the Pouch. Link bent down to pick it up, but Biggoron stared at it like it was a severed head.

"What's that?"

"It's a Deku Stick. It just fell-"

"It's a dealllllll!" Biggoron said.

"W-wait, what?" Link stammered.

"I'lllll take your entirrrrrre stock!" Biggoron confirmed. "Deku Sticks are verrrrrrry good for sword hilts!"

Ten Deku Sticks later, Link accepted the claim check and played the Sun's Song six times. This caused the day-night cycle to pass in a span of seconds. Vaguely, he wondered how the denizens of Kakariko were reacting to the sudden change in what day it was.

"Yourrrrrrr sworrrrrd is my finest worrrrrk!" the giant Goron proclaimed, producing a massive broadsword from somewhere. Link grasped the Biggoron Sword and swung it a few times, testing its balance, sharpness, and most importantly, its weight. The blade was flawless, and despite requiring both hands to operate efficiently, it wasn't so heavy that a Stalfos-handed Link couldn't pick it up easily and swing it around.

"It's perfect," Link praised. "Thank you so much!"

Without missing a beat, Link played the Serenade of Water and warped back to Lake Hylia. He dropped by Bonooru and repeated his nine-note tune, gaining the assistance of his scarecrow friend Pierre. The Hylian probably wouldn't use him much, but a few extra Skulltulas would be nice.

The Hylian breathed deep from the air while he still could. They may have been gone, but these new forms in their place were just as perfect.

He smiled as he sank to the bottom of the lake, calm at last.

**You don't have to have everyone ripped away from you to pull at people's heartstrings. Accepting that loss is just as emotional, if not more so.**

**NOOTTD: The Kumangiriza, like the Maoqiu and Elder Skullfos, is a reference to the Rejected BotW Guardian concepts. They can be found in the Master Works books, and they're actually nightmare fuel.**

**Review Please!**


	15. Chapter 14: Who Are We?

**The Water Temple. Everyone's favorite least favorite dungeon. I didn't mind it, I guess. Coincidentally, I also only ever played the 3DS version. Sue me.**

**RRRP:**

_Reaper4425 (FF): _Well, yes. But, at least in my experience, Link isn't omniscient, and can only see things from his perspective. As far as he knows, the day is passing in instants.

_ChangelingRin (FF): _Tiny flying therapist. I… have no words, because that's the most accurate triplet of words that I have ever seen for a single character, beating out 'fucking edgelord crybaby'. Finally!

_Setokayba2n (FF)_: I do touch on Majora's Mask in this story- before Link fights Ganondorf, actually- but I'm not writing the entirety of the game, mainly because I don't have the inside-out experience of MM the way I do with OOT. Regarding how Link should tell Zelda about his first escapade, see my response to ChangelingRin in chapter 9.

_Chapter XIV: Fire Magic in a Water Temple? Blasphemy!_

Link hauled himself out of the putrid water and into the Water Temple proper. The water was raised to the third level, and a few blue Tektikes patrolled the disgusting waters. Link opted to ignore the Tektikes and simply descend to the bottom of the Water Temple, careful not to accidentally drink any of the water.

It was okay to breathe in, but it severely limited Link's visibility. He could barely see anything that was more than a few paces away. This was a far cry from the Water Temple of his first adventure, which featured clear, fresh water for Link to swim around in.

He was still undeniably thirsty, as he had never gotten water in Kakariko and there wasn't fresh water anywhere. Whatever he had drunk at the party hadn't helped either.

Finally, Link reached the bottom of the Temple. He instantly noticed the large steel bars that blocked the path just behind him. The same was true of the rightmost and northmost passages. The only open path he could take was the eastern one, which- conveniently- was the path he was going to take anyway.

The Hylian walked through the passageway, taking a left and then a right to find a small room. There were two metal torches and a wooden one, all unlit because they were underwater.

And there was Princess Ruto.

Like Link, she had matured into an adult, complete with violet earrings and a look in her eyes without that childish flicker in them.

"Oh… you… if I'm right… Link?! You're Link, aren't you?!" the Zora inquired, sounding like she was in disbelief.

"Uh, yeah," Link replied awkwardly. "It's me."

"You still owe me my Sapphire!" she spat. "And where the hell have you been? Whenever I've tried to communicate with you, I can't find you!"

"Your Sapph-" Link started, confused, before remembering. "Oh, right… that. Yeah… forgot about that…"

"You _forgot_ about it?!" she screamed. "You _forgot_ about my engagement stone?!"

"Well… It's not like I don't know where it is… but I still need it. I'll give it back to you in a month or so. Probably more. Don't count on it.

"And to answer your other question, you haven't been able to contact me because I was locked in a temple for the last seven years. Time flows strangely there, so seven years for you went by in an instant on my end. I only just got out a few weeks ago, and most of it's been spent purging Ganondorf's evil. I'm sorry, but I still need the Sapphire to keep the Temple of Time open so I can hop through time as I need to."

"Ugh…" the Zora princess moaned, putting her head in her hands. "Whatever happened to 'keeping it safe'? Wasn't the whole point of taking it in the first place to stop Ganondorf from using it?"

"Yeah," Link sighed. "But De- Ganondorf told me that every day I failed to give him what he wants, he slaughters a settlement of innocents. He set the proclamation in stone by blowing up my friend's house and killing her father and uncle. I was _understandably_ not in the right state of mind at the time."

She looked pensive. "Now is not the time to be talking of these things," she decided. "Link, I need your help again! I'm sure you've already seen it: Zora's Domain- totally frozen! Hyrule's water- all poison! A young man named Sheik saved me from the ice…"

"Young woman," Link corrected. "It's secretly Princess Ze- uh… the former princess of Hyrule in disguise. But you can't tell anyone."

"Huh… anyway, my father and the others are not… yet… free…"

"Your dad is unfrozen," the Hylian informed. "I saw to that."

"Really? Thank you! But none of the others?"

"Unfortunately, no."

"I see. We need to save them all! I need to save Zora's Domain! You have to help me! This is a request from me, the woman you've known for years! You have to help me destroy the evil man in the Temple, OK?!"

"Evil man?" Link asked, intrigued. "I thought it was a monster?"

"No, it was a man," the Zora clarified. "I didn't recognize him, though. Or maybe it was a her; I seem to be quite good at confusing the two. Anyway, there are three places in the Water Temple where you can change the water level. I'll lead the way. Follow me, quickly!"

With that, she floated through the murky black waters, to the upper echelons of the Temple. Link knew from experience that he wouldn't see her again until after he killed Morpha. Distantly, he wondered what she did after showing him the first Triforce plaque.

The explodable wall on the second floor had already been exploded. Interesting. Link made a note of it as he ascended.

Eventually, he made it to the third level. He took a deep breath; the Zora Tunic let him breathe underwater, but it was never enough to satisfy his need for air. The one door was locked tight, and four torches were stuck in the four corners of the room, by the ceiling. Link was glad he had been trained by the Fire Temple to always look for torches to light.

First, though, he played Zelda's Lullaby in front of the Triforce plaque to lower the water level all the way to the bottom. Then he approached the center of the room and used Din's Fire to light all four torches. As expected, the locked door opened.

When he stepped through, the door sealed itself behind him, but nothing actually happened. When he took a step forward, however, three Stalfos tore through the stone floor, blades raised and shields at the ready.

Link smiled sadistically. "Finally, a good fight!"

Ivan just sighed.

**!0*0!**

The Stalfos charged in a triangle formation directly at Link. He drew the Biggoron Sword and summoned his Shield, noting how the weightless steel fit perfectly on his arm even with the double-handed longsword. The Stalfos started to fan out, hoping to overwhelm the Hylian with a flurry of blows, but the Hero of Time simply used a quick Spin Attack to push them all back.

His fairy companion Mind Hacked the rightmost Stalfos, and it awkwardly started slapping the central Stalfos with its shield. The undead fighter, understandably angered by its insubordinating teammate, rose its sword and slapped it back with the sharp end. Ivan relinquished control over the Stalfos just late enough for it to have no clue why the middle Stalfos was swinging its sword at it and not the Hero of Time. The rightmost Stalfos retaliated, and soon the two Stalfos were busier fighting each other than they were Link.

This left the leftmost Stalfos and Link to duel on their own. This time, however, Link had the added advantage of a ridiculously long blade, and so whenever their swords clanged together, Link could just drive the oddly bulbous tip of his sword forwards into the Stalfos' midsection and deal damage that way. Eventually, it was too much for the skeleton, and it evaporated into green flames. Link turned to fight off the other two, but realized that they were currently occupied with stabbing each other in the midsection. Link watched with an uncomfortable level of mirth as the Stalfos stabbed each other at precisely the same instant, each causing the other's death.

The door unsealed. Link looked at Ivan with a newfound respect in his eyes. The fairy just laughed before peering at a Zora plaque on the wall.

"Er, leetle man. Is there something… unusual here?"

"But there's no face!" Link argued.

"Just trust Ivan, okay?"

Rolling his eyes, Link shot an arrow at the center of the blue brick, making the royal blue sprite yelp in surprise as he was nearly hit in the face. A large oak chest appeared in the center of the room. Kicking it open revealed the Dungeon Map.

Finally leaving the way he came, Link leapt down the hole and fell all the way down to the first floor. He disregarded the accompanying pain that crawled up his legs. Then he grabbed his bow and nocked an arrow, letting it fly through the now-lit torch and into the unlit one, lighting it. Repeating this process with the other torch caused the locked door on the first floor to unseal. Link stepped through it.

The room was empty save a plaque and a Spike. Killing the Spike was easy, and Link triggered the plaque button with the Hookshot. It was instinct at this point. But all that came out was a Red Rupee.

Link went to pick it up, but was interrupted by a pair of Lizalfos that dropped from the roof as he approached the plaque. The superior reach of the Biggoron Sword, and the fact that one good swipe was enough to kill the Lizalfos, made them even easier than usual.

A chest appeared right underneath Link, and it housed the Compass. Two Hookshot panels had also appeared by the door, but Link saw no purpose to them.

Conveniently, the change had effects outside of the smaller room as well. Several Hookshot Panels had appeared, including one on the second floor. Pulling himself onto one of the panels on the first level brought Link in range of the panel on the second floor, and he eagerly grappled to it. The area behind the cracked wall had nothing but another plaque, but Link knew that the plaque was hiding something. He slowly approached the stone engraving and poked it with the steel end of one of his arrows. It was probably a Small Key or something.

Behind him, a large chest had appeared. He already had the Dungeon Map and Compass, so this must be the Longshot.

This was far better than a Small Key!

The Hylian was so eager to open the chest that he forewent actually opening it. Instead, he withdrew his Megaton Hammer from his Pouch and smashed the chest to smithereens, just because he could. Fortunately, the upgraded Hookshot itself was unharmed.

"I'm going to have _fun_ with this," Link whispered before returning to the first floor. Given that the other three passages were sealed with steel, Link decided to take the only available path: into the central pillar that housed the second Triforce plaque.

The Hero of Time walked along the slender pathway before turning around and Hookshotting upwards. The small platform he was now on was situated directly in front of the Triforce plaque. Playing Zelda's Lullaby caused the water level to rise to halfway up the room.

Link swam back to the middle of the room, between a higher platform and a block that had rose with the water, and activated the Iron Boots, sinking onto the platform. To his dismay, however, the hidden passageway that was usually here was now blocked by iron bars. That implied that Link would have to open _all _of the iron bars in order to open up this one. And that would not only be tedious, but probably extremely complicated.

Dejectedly, Link rose to the middle and exited out the door. Unlike last time, it didn't seal itself when he left. Odd.

He consulted the map and Compass. There was a gold button that probably activated the sealed bars right next to it, but there wasn't anything in the room it was followed by. Moreover, Link could easily reach the third floor simply by Hookshotting straight to the third Triforce Plaque. The same went for the other two pathways. Neither held the Small Keys he needed to progress further into the dungeon.

Link was stumped. He _must _have missed something, there was no other explanation. He returned to the central pillar room and looked up.

Then he saw it.

There were four torches at the very top of the room, along with a Block of Time.

Smacking himself at his stupidity, Link Hookshotted to the very top of the room, issuing a silent prayer to the Goddesses for giving him the Longshot so early. But it was there that he encountered a problem.

The Block of Time was situated so high up that Link had no chance of jumping to it, even when standing on a pair of wooden crates. Ivan made himself known with a cough, flying to a spot just below the Block of Time and turning green.

"You can move the Time block," he mentioned.

Link said nothing, merely playing the Song of Time to lower the block a touch. But even still, the platform was simply too high. He was at a dead end again.

"Hmm… You seem to be at about the level where the water was, back when it was at the third setting. Maybe if you bring it back to the third level, that platform down there will float high enough for you to jump to the Block of Time?"

"But how would I get back to this room in the first place?" Link countered.

Ivan gave him a look. "Does leetle man have any better ideas?"

"No…"

With that, the Hylian exited the room, Hookshotted to the third Triforce plaque, and played Zelda's Lullaby on the Ocarina of Time. The water level rose to the place it was when Link first entered the Temple.

"Now how do I get back?" Link countered.

"Hmm… You can't go back the way you went in, because that platform has floated to the surface… That leaves the way you left, through that door on the second floor. Try it."

"This isn't going to work, Ivan," Link said, but donned the Iron Boots nonetheless and maneuvered himself onto the second level. He strolled along the walkway and approached the unlocked door. Miraculously, the door opened when Link approached, and the Hylian was able to go through.

"I stand corrected."

Ivan chuckled.

Link deactivated the Iron Boots and rose to the top. Like Ivan predicted, the floating platform had rose to a position so high that Link could ascend to the Block of Time. Casting Din's Fire again lit all four torches, and even through all the liquid interference, Link could hear the sound of the iron grate at the bottom sliding open.

**!0*0!**

Swandiving to the bottom with the Iron Boots, Link found himself in a water-filled corridor. He walked through it to discover a small chamber with several boxes and flimsy-looking walls. Smashing the boxes yielded nothing but a few Rupees, which Link was happy to take nonetheless.

He rounded around the flimsy wall to discover that there was more to the room; namely, more boxes. The first box Link rolled into revealed a diamond switch, which Link triggered with the Longshot. He heard the iron bars directly behind him recede, but all that was inside was a single Spike. It was easy to destroy with his upgraded Hookshot.

Turning around, Link saw more thin, moss-covered walls partially sunken into the floor. He approached them and exerted a gentle force on it, only to back away when it disintegrated. Repeating the process with the wall behind it revealed another diamond switch. This probably removed the iron bars on the other hole.

His assumption was correct, and Link swam out of the water. Thankfully, the water in the central pillar room was much clearer than the water from the rest of the dungeon. Suddenly realizing what that meant, the Hylian practically threw himself from the water, stripped out of the Zora Tunic, and drank long and deep from the clean, fresh water. He also took the opportunity to fill his canteen with it.

The little dead end Link had found himself in was completely empty save a light blue plaque. He had come to expect things like these, honestly, and the fact that the Compass was registering a chest here helped. He drew the Biggoron Sword and whacked the picture with it, causing a small chest to appear. Inside was a Small Key, exactly what he needed. The mural also spewed out a Magic vial, which Link partook in.

Hopefully there weren't any more Small Keys in this part of the dungeon.

**!0*0!**

Back on the third floor, Link unlocked the locked door, which consumed the Small Key he had used. He ended up in a room complete with a massive waterfall which fell off into the void. The Hylian wasn't sure exactly what was down there, but he didn't particularly want to find out. He was even less enthused by the fact that this water, too, was pure poison.

Cautiously, Link stepped out to get a better view. Unlike last time, there weren't any platforms in the waterfall. Instead, there was a single platform on his side of the abyss, moving up and down in a sinusoidal cycle.

Maybe there would be something on the other side that he simply couldn't see from here. Deciding that he had no other options, Link leapt down onto the platform, sliding uncontrollably but landing the jump all the same. There were two murals flanking the exit tunnel. Shooting the leftmost one did nothing, but shooting the one further to the right caused a single Hookshot panel to appear, coming right up to the exit hallway. However, it was too far for Link to Hookshot to, even with the added length of the Longshot.

Was he missing something? He hoped not; there were so many rooms in the Water Temple he had yet to explore, so searching every one of them would be pure torment. But there didn't seem to be another option in this room. Dejectedly, Link turned around and prepared to Hookshot back to the central chamber.

Then he noticed something and felt very stupid.

There was a diamond switch hidden right above the entrance hallway. Shooting it with the Longshot caused several more Hookshot panels to peek out from the waterfall.

The toxic water vaulted right over the panels, with less velocity than before, but still at high speed. If Link failed to pull himself on top of the Hookshot panel, he would be sucked into the abyss by the rushing waters. The panels would be slick, but he was wearing greaves. All he had to do was be fast enough.

Or he could just Hookshot to the panel that happened to be situated right above another. That worked, too.

He Hookshotted to that panel, which happened to be on the rightmost side. The current carried him down the waterfall, but he was able to find his footing on the Panel just below it. From there, it was easy to latch to the furthest panel, and the exit was just a hop away.

The door sealed behind him, though. Odd. There weren't any enemies in the room. Only several stone dragon heads, which were all in their lowest position. The little pillar where a diamond switch had once sat was now empty. Link couldn't just Hookshot anywhere, because all the dragon heads were down. However, he did spy a Hookshot panel on the other side of the room, behind a dragon head. He couldn't quite make it from here, but if he jumped down, it wouldn't be too big of an issue. So he proceeded to leap off of the platform he was on, splashing into the shallow water beneath him.

He was caught off guard when three Stalfos materialized in front of him and tried to induct him as the president of the Being Dead Club. Link barely had time to summon his Shield before three bronze swords swung directly at him, sending tingling shockwaves along his arm. The Stalfos shield absorbed the blow, but it was shattered into an explosion of little black diamonds.

_Three Stalfos on one Hero of Time in close quarters, and without a shield?_ Link thought. _That's fair. Okay. Alright. I see how it is. At least before, I had room to breathe._

The Hero of Time wasted no time in Hookshotting back on top of the first platform, where the Stalfos couldn't reach him. Ivan's Mind Hacking had given him just enough time to line up the shot and zip away. Fortunately, without the Hookshot, they had no way of getting up to where Link was.

He reached into his pouch and delicately removed his bag of thirty Bombs. He had never really had much of an opportunity to use the Bombs, as he usually opted to run around with the Biggoron Sword and Stalfos Shield. It was about time, he mused, he started using them for more than just excavation.

He tossed a few explosives at the Stalfos, watching in muted glee as they burst into fiery orbs of devastation. One of the Stalfos completely disintegrated, but the other two were still alive and trying desperately to attack Link from more than ten feet below him.

They weren't succeeding.

Snorting in derision, the Hylian lobbed a Deku Nut down a Stalfos' gullet, and the ensuing blast not only blew the skeleton's head clean off, but also stunned the other Stalfos. Link then hopped down into the shallow water and lopped its head off.

He barely heard the door unseal over the loud grinding noises of the dragon heads moving upwards. They each revealed a Hookshot Panel engraved on their necks, which Link could access. The Hylian Hookshotted straight to the dragon head closest to the exit and then across a bed of spikes. Glancing at his map confirmed that the next room was the one that seemed to stretch forever, and housed a dark incarnation of himself.

Dark Link.

He stood before a black, serpentine statue and played the Sun's Song, causing day to switch to night so that he could sleep slightly better. He didn't expect a little golden orb to suddenly appear at his feet before being absorbed into his skin, refilling all of his health and magic. However, it didn't cure his tiredness, and so the Hylian propped himself up against the cool stone wall and slumbered.

**!0*0!**

The room seemed to stretch on forever into a white void, although there were a few rocks scattered about outside of the real dimensions of the room. He convinced himself that this was just an illusion, and trotted to the dead tree in the center of the room.

Last time, his shadow had been here. But this time, there was none. Only Link and Ivan populated this vast expanse. He waded through the ankle-deep waters a bit, and took in the wonders of this room. He noticed that there was no path behind the door from which he had come from, and that both doors were sealed. But beyond that, the room was empty, full of nothing but poison water, a dead tree, and the Hero of Time.

Link set himself down heavily on the little island in the center and waited. Surely, Dark Link would appear soon enough. He had to. Right?

Right?

He had no idea how long he sat there, waiting. It could have very well been another seven years. Seconds stretched into eternities, minutes were ponderously counted by each beat of Link's heart, and the hours dragged on, endlessly marching forwards. Never stopping, never slowing; forever slogging onwards.

The Hylian was suddenly alerted by the sound of a door unsealing, opening, and then closing again. He jolted, throwing himself into a ready position and grasping the Biggoron Sword. Then he reconsidered; wouldn't the Master Sword be stronger against an evil of Dark Link's scope? Probably.

Ivan flew off, presumably to get a good look at the new arrival as Link stowed away the Biggoron Sword and drew the Blade of Evil's Bane. From the island, Link got a good look at the being that had just entered the room.

It was Dark Link, looking exactly as Link remembered him. He wore a black tunic that was otherwise identical to Link's, but had similarly-colored skin, slate-colored hair, and piercing crimson eyes. He had a fake Master Sword slung along his back- over the left shoulder, Link noted- and a Hylian Shield.

There was also a fairy, which Link took particular note of. It was also colored a dark grey, but they way it clung to Dark Link meant only one thing. Dark Link had a guardian fairy.

Ivan reported back. "It's a dark version of you," the sprite informed. "The fabric between dimensions is very thin here. Ivan thinks it's you from another dimension, and it only appears dark here because of the curse and because of interdimensional interference."

Link blinked. "O… kay?"

_Link was lost. He was stuck in some sort of room that stretched on forever_, _and it was empty save a little island with a dead tree. He waded through the clear, ankle-deep waters, searching for a button or a switch, only to find that some invisible barrier kept him from straying too far._

"_Hey!" Navi, his fairy companion, said. "There's probably something we have to fight in here!"_

"_Okay, Navi, but where? I don't see anything," the Hylian responded._

_Navi didn't respond. "Navi?" Link said, turning to his partner._

"_Link…? What in the world is that?"_

_He followed her gaze and, if he squinted, could see a transparent copy of himself, staring at him from the island with the dead tree._

Link blinked. He couldn't hear anything they were saying, and he assumed they couldn't hear anything he said, either. But if his memory served him correctly, he had walked that exact same path, looked that exact same place, and seen that exact same sight his _first_ time around. He could almost fill in Navi's voice over the fairy and his own over Dark Link, although no sound came from either of them.

_Slowly, carefully, they approached the island. Maybe this person would know what to do?_

"Ivan, we have to kill them," Link explained somberly. "It's the only way we can get out of this Goddess-forsaken room. But… it's _me_. The first me. The one that still had… _her_."

"Leetle man…" Ivan warned.

"It's not what you're thinking. I can't take Navi away from this Link, because it would break him… me… us? Plus, she's gone. And I've accepted that… I think.

"It's more the fact that I have to kill them. What happens to me? Do I cease to exist because I died here, meaning that I couldn't have lived long enough to kill me in the first place?"

"Nonsense," Ivan refuted. "This Link is from an alternate dimension, and this is only an astral echo across the fabric of space and time. Killing this Link won't kill you, only him. Leetle man will be _fine_."

Link took a deep breath. "I'm trusting you."

_The man seemed to be talking to thin air. The pair was confused. Did he have his own fairy, that they simply couldn't see?_

"_W-who are you?" Link asked, hesitantly. There was no response._

"_Hello?" Navi said. "Hey! Listen! We're talking to you!" But there was nothing. "I don't know, Link," Navi eventually relented. "I can't get him to do much as acknowledge me. He's like you that way."_

"_He's a copy of me, right? Makes sense," Link joked._

_Then the shadow _moved. _It had drawn its sword and was standing in front of him, slowly getting even darker as it stared at him with its black, soulless eyes. Link mirrored the movement, tensely waiting for Dark Link to attack as Navi locked on._

Dark Link was just peering at him. Navi had Z-targeted him, ensuring that the younger Link would land his next attack if the older Link did nothing.

They stood there for a few seconds, waiting for the other to strike. _Screw this silence,_ they thought_. If he's not going to attack me, then I'll just attack _him.

Both Master Swords swung in perfect tandem with each other, clashing in a crossbuck. The force of the blow sent both reeling, trying to put themselves back on good footing. They tried again, only for the same result. Dark Link was slow due to his inexperience. Link was slow due to his inner conflict about killing himself. Even despite Ivan's assuredness that he wouldn't die, an irrational shard of Link's brain still believed that he would.

Dark Link moved to stab at the Hero of Time, painfully slowly. Link deftly hopped onto the extended blade and, finally swallowing his reservations, swung his blade at the other Link.

_How had Dark Link done that? He had felt weightless, like he didn't really exist! How could anyone fight something that didn't exist?_

"_Link!" Navi yelled. "You have to conquer yourself!"_

_Dark Link backflipped off of his sword, finally allowing Link to move again. In a terrifying moment of clarity, Link noticed that Dark Link's eyes were glowing a sinister red._

_That couldn't bode well._

That alternate Navi was being annoying. Her dark light was getting in Link's good eye, and it was becoming extremely irritating. Angrily, Link waved his corrupted hand across his vision and successfully batted the fairy away. This seemed to anger Dark Link, and he proceeded to sprint at Link with his sword raised. The alternate Link jump slashed at him, but the attack was so poorly executed that Link easily sidestepped it and responded with his own jump slash, which hit.

Link got no reaction from Dark, though. His eyes were glowing bloodred, though, and Link was met with a flurry of haphazard blows that were all absorbed by the Stalfos Shield.

Then Dark Link cast Din's Fire.

Link hunkered down behind the Stalfos Shield before realizing that he couldn't possibly cover all of his body with it. So instead, he Backapparated behind the blow and materialized behind an unsuspecting Link, landing yet another hit.

Navi was back, shining her light straight in Link's eye. It was getting ridiculous, and the lack of vision caused Link to completely whiff his next few strikes. He didn't remember Dark Link missing so much back on his first adventure, which he took as a good thing. Fortunately, Ivan was doing the exact same thing to the other Link, creating a strange sort of fight in which both combatants swung blindly at each other without the ability to land their attacks.

Finally, the Links had had enough. They stopped fighting each other and instead tried to bat away the fairies plaguing their vision. Ivan dodged. Navi didn't.

Then again, it probably had more to do with the fact that the elder Link had used his sword instead of his fist.

_Navi fell out of the air with a sharp cry, splashing into the water below her. Link uttered a shout of dismay, watching in abject horror as golden ichor intertwined with the clean waters of the Temple._

_Dark Link was staring at the fairy with some sort of shock, like he hadn't expected that to happen. Either way, this shadow would _pay _for that._

_Link rammed his elbow into Dark's chest. The monster, not expecting the attack, fell on its behind in a rather undignified manner. The Hylian didn't care, though. Already, he was crouching over Navi's tiny form, her light dim._

"_L- Link…_" _she stuttered. "I'm… sorry… I-I couldn't h-h-have been a better partn…"_

_Her light went out, and her body evaporated into the air like a Healing Fairy. She was gone._

Oh, Goddesses.

Had he just… _killed_ Navi? No. That was impossible. Right?

But there it was. He watched the fairy's form disappear in Dark's grasp. Link kept staring in that spot, horrified. Through the dark gloom of the corrupted water, he could make out a pair of red dots right over where his reflection's eyes should have been.

He was a monster, wasn't he?

Ivan looked at him, concern etched into his face. Link swallowed his doubts. This was just an interdimensional echo. None of it was real. He hadn't killed Navi. He _hadn't_.

_He hadn't come this far just to fail._

_So many people were depending on him. Ruto. Darunia. Saria. The people of Hyrule. The Great Deku Tree. Impa. Sheik._

_Zelda._

_He started screaming, fury pulsing through his being like a ravenous beast. He would_ kill _this stupid shadow. No, he would kill the shadow's Navi. He would make it feel what it made him feel. He would make it feel true pain._

Dark Link suddenly reared up and started whaling on him with the Master Sword. Each attack hit Link like a catapult full of Ganons. His shield burst, unable to take the hits barreling towards him. Link hastily brought up his blade to parry, which protected him from Dark's next attacks but made him buckle under the weight of the blows. But the younger Link was still able to get under his guard and hit him. Link Backapparated behind the blow, only to nearly be decapitated as soon as he appeared behind Dark. Evidently, Dark had caught on to his tricks. He still managed to Backapparate, but when Dark turned, there was no Link to greet him.

_And then there was agony erupting from his midsection._

_Hesitantly, Link looked down and wished he hadn't. The dark copy of the Master Sword was protruding from his gut, flecked with his own blood and bits of gold ichor. It was agony. He couldn't die here. He had so much left to do. Ten years wasn't enough. Why so soon?_

_Suddenly, he felt his mind go numb, like Link was viewing himself from the third person. Was this what happened when everyone… died?_

"_Privyet, leetle boy," a heavily accented voice greeted. "This is Ivan, Link's guardian fairy. Much like Navi is… was to you."_

Why? _Link thought. _What did I do? I had to save everyone, and you killed me! You killed Navi!

"_Da, and Ivan is sorry for that. But leetle boy is mistaken. We did not kill you. We only killed one version of you out of uncountable millions of possible outcomes. This room is strange, in that it reaches across space and time to orchestrate these battles. Here, you are an echo of my Link, who goes on to succeed in saving the world. Ivan assures you, there is _always _an outcome in which everyone is saved. _

"_Does that make leetle boy feel better?"_

"_I… I don't know. I don't think so."_

_He felt himself give a slight smile, despite not making any indication to. "That's okay, too. Goodbye, Link. May the wind and sun always be at your back."_

_He felt his eyelids squeeze shut, of their own volition. He never opened them again. He was dead before he hit the water._

The room was suddenly filled with a vibrant light, as stone structures made themselves known throughout the room. The entire expanse was just another chamber, with an island and a tree. There was nothing else special about it.

Except the fact that it was the site where at least two Links had met their end.

Link glanced at his reflection. One eye was wrapped tight in grimy-looking bandages. The other eye was a muted blue. He wasn't a monster. He was just doing what he had to do to survive.

_The clear water's surface reflects growth… _But what if the growth wasn't for the better? What if instead of evolving, he had somehow _devolved_ over time? The thoughts bounced through Link's mind incessantly, but he didn't voice them. If he did, he would only find himself mired in self-doubt. And if he was to finish the Water Temple intact, self-doubt was the last thing Link wanted.

Ivan exited Dark Link's body just before it evaporated into mist. The fine particles coalesced about the dead tree and then dispersed. The formerly corrupted water shone for an instant, and then cleansed itself. It was clear once again.

He heard the doors unseal, but there was something he still had to do. Approaching the dead tree, Link took off his hat and hung it on one of its boughs. Then he removed the other two from his pack and placed them on other branches. It wasn't much, but it was enough of a memorial for a dead Hero.

Link decided that he hated this room. Turning in disgust, the Hero of Time marched out of the now unlocked door, and further into the Water Temple.

**!0*0!**

The next room was unforgivingly bland. All that was in it were a pair of pots that contained a jug of Magic Potion and a Healing Fairy, and a sealed hole just behind them. By now, Link knew what to do. Rolling his eyes at how easy the Water Temple's puzzles turned out to be, Link aimed his Longshot at the mural on the wall and released it. The plaque not only spewed out another magic jar, but also caused the hole to unseal. From there, it was easy for Link to jump down the hole into what he knew to be a tunnel full of rapids. There were Hookshot panels jutting out from the little river, which were convenient.

But Link was more concerned about the fact that the water looked a sickly green, like pus. Gingerly, Link fished a Green Rupee out of his wallet and submerged half of it in the water. When he withdrew it, half of the Rupee had burnt away; evidently, this water was highly acidic. He would have to Hookshot from panel to panel while avoiding the water at all costs.

"Ivan would tell you to avoid the vortices, but Ivan doubts you were planning to jump into that water and swim through this section," Ivan said.

"Yup," Link replied simply, Hookshotting from panel to panel. He also picked up a Golden Skulltula hiding on the ceiling.

The exit to the snake-like room wasn't even sealed. Link remained unimpressed. He almost preferred the original Water Temple, because that Temple had actually made him think.

Link dove into the swirling waters of the next chamber. He swiftly activated his Iron Boots and sank to the bottom, but dispelled them before he could quite get all the way down. This allowed Link to swim through a submerged tunnel. He swam all the way to the top and was greeted by an empty room. It had a plaque, though, but when Link shot it, nothing happened. He probably had to do something with the small boxes that were also in this room. So he grabbed one and turned to leave, only to notice that there were two torches hiding in the corners of the room. Angrily, Link threw the box at the wall, shattering it, before casting Din's Fire. Link wasn't quite sure what had happened, but he knew that _something_ must have happened. So he returned to the vortex, only to discover that the exit door was now unlocked.

That was just too easy. He left the room and ended up in a room with a large depression in it. There was a diamond switch right next to him and a water spout at the bottom. On the other side, there was a steel barrier. But behind the bars, Link could see two Torches and an elaborate chest. It must have contained the Boss Key.

Why was he using Din's Fire so much? He was in a _Water Temple_! It completely contradicted the theme of the dungeon itself! Whatever the reasoning was, it made the Temple so easy that even the Kakariko town drunk probably could have done it.

He activated the diamond switch, which caused the spout to rise, as Link predicted. He then jumped onto the spout, which somehow held his weight, and cast Din's Fire.

The two torches were lit, causing the great iron cates to open. The Hylian jumped across just before the water began to descend into the valley, and withdrew the Boss Key from its chest.

Progressing even further, Link sank down a hole behind the Boss Key and then floated back up. This lead him back to the central room, but on the other side of the iron bars. There was also a convenient golden button there, which the Hero of Time somehow hadn't noted when he first entered the Temple. Stepping on the button caused all of the iron bars to recede. Not just the ones directly in front of Link, but every single grate in the Temple had disappeared, allowing access to the entirety of the Water Temple. Link didn't care, though. He just wanted to get the dungeon over with.

He rose to the third level of the Temple and Hookshotted across to the northern expanse of corrupted water, thankful that he had left the water on its highest setting. He trotted through the door to be greeted by a final, short hallway. There were three spiked discs oscillating on a slope too slick for Link to just stand on. Like last time, he would have to dash up the ramp as fast as he could, lest he slide all the way down.

But where it differed from last time was the sheer speed of the discs. They were moving at a much higher speed than they were before, and Link knew from just looking at it that he wouldn't be able to sprint up the slope.

There were two plaques on either side of him, but they did nothing. The larger, brown plaque on the other end, though, appeared to have a diamond switch embedded in it. Link took aim with his Longshot and activated it. He didn't know what he was expecting; maybe some Hookshot panels would appear somewhere. The Hylian was sure of one thing, though; he most certainly did _not_ expect a gaggle of cuccos to land on his head.

Fortunately, the chickens didn't seem to be angered at Link, despite the fact that the Hylian was indirectly responsible for their sudden change in location. Instead, the flock stayed right where Link was, at the base of the ramp. The Hero of Time dared not move his feet, lest he kick a Cucco and send the whole gaggle into a mad frenzy.

How did this help him get up the slope, though? Was he supposed to get the cuccos mad at him so that their attacks would catapult him up the ramp? That couldn't be it, could it?

Ivan seemed just as lost as Link was. "Chickens, chickens…" he mumbled. "Don't they get angry at whatever hurt them?"

_Whatever_. Not _whoever_.

"Ivan, you're a genius," Link praised, picking up the nearest Cucco and lobbing it at the spiked discs. The spikes impaled the cucco almost instantly as it squacked madly. Immediately, the entire gaggle swiveled their gazes at the discs before diving at them, beaks ripping metal from the discs as they were crushed by an entire herd of irate livestock. Soon, the spiked rings were nothing but shrapnel, and the cuccos returned to aimlessly milling about like nothing had happened.

In a moment of shocking clarity, Link realized that he could technically bring an entire flock of Cuccos into the battle with Morpha. He gladly snagged the cucco nearest him, only for it to start screaming its head off the instant it was touched.

Link processed the situation. He had just angered an entire herd of cuccos. In an extremely cramped hallway. Right next to Morpha.

There was only one logical solution.

The Hylian sprinted up the slope, begging hoarsely for mercy, as the entire flock engaged in hot pursuit. Many infuriated pecks later, he made it all the way up the slope, yanked open the Boss Door, and slammed it shut behind him.

This couldn't end well.

**!0*0!**

The water was acid, as evidenced by its disgusting green color.

This was the second thing Link realized, right after the black-skinned humanoid that was enraptured by a bubbling cauldron in the center of the room. He stood casually on a waterspout a few feet above the normal elevation of the water. Closer inspection yielded the fact that its arms had fins, confirming that it was a Zora. It was freezing in the room, causing Link to shiver uncontrollably.

"So you're the signature I've been tracking…" it said in a distinctly masculine voice. He sounded almost familiar. "Well, isn't this very, very interesting…"

Ivan choked. "But… that's… of _course _he's here."

The Zora's head rotated a hundred and eighty degrees to stare at the partners that had entered the Boss Room. He had deformed features and hate-filled golden eyes. "What do you two think?"

Then it clicked.

"Nierak!" Link boomed, somewhat scandalized.

"So you do remember me," the Zora dark mage confirmed. "Frankly, it took you long enough. I was starting to get bored."

"What the hell are you on about?" the Hylian shot back. He lost ten Rupees.

"The great Ganondorf told me to guard this place, and keep my little _project_ secret," Nierak explained. "To be quite honest, I wasn't expecting that to entail sitting around in this room for six Goddess damned _years_. But you're here, and with more dark magic to boot. This will be the most fun I've had in _decades!_"

"But why follow Ganondorf?" Link argued. "I mean, you've been sitting here for the last six years under his orders. Couldn't you have spent that time better terrorizing a Hyrule that was still under the control of the Royal Family?"

"Because this is so much more exhilarating!" the dark mage proclaimed, laughing madly as he spread his arms. "I thought my dark magic was unrivaled throughout all the land. But then Ganondorf disappeared, and came back a year later with nigh unlimited power! I was honored to be allowed the honor- nay, the privilege to serve the great Ganondorf!"

"_You_…" Ivan spat, hate dripping off of his words. "You cursed Zora's Domain and poisoned all the water, didn't you?!"

"Ah, so the stupid little fairy recognizes my greatest work," Nierak bragged. "Isn't it magnificent? Every instant that passes, I kill my foes a little more. Soon, they will have no choice but to grovel at my feet for mercy, and I can laugh and tell them that begging for their pathetic lives didn't save the Hero of Time, so why should it save them?

"Then I can kill them all. Slowly. And painfully. Then I can dump them in the same hole I'll bury you in in a few minutes. And the Goddesses will rue the day they thought they could usurp Nierak, God of Plague!"

He started laughing, insanely, as tendrils of pus-colored water surrounded him in a great orb. Nierak floated up to the ceiling with the water and stayed there, still cackling maniacally. Link drew his Biggoron Sword and jumped onto one of the four platforms in an effort to reach him, only to find that the dark mage had gotten too far up for him to efficiently attack with a blade. Then he tried shooting him with arrows, only to discover that the water bubble surrounding Nierak was completely impregnable.

He turned around to jump back to the other side, only to be greeted by a fat tendril of poison water that was staring back at him. If he squinted, Link could see a red sphere inside of the acid.

Then it clicked.

Nierak had made Morpha. He'd probably been making it when he went there to learn dark magic. And Link has done _nothing about it_.

It had been colder behind the waterfall seven years ago. Colder than it had any right to be. How hadn't he realized it sooner?

He barely dodged the waterspout as it swung at him, but Link still managed to get to the edge of the Boss Room. Looking back at the water revealed three more tendrils of water emerging from the water, each with their own Morpha housed inside.

The Hylian readied his Longshot. It was going to be a long battle.

The Morphae descended back into the water and swam around the basin, finding a location close to Link and swirling about in place. Above where they were located, massive tendrils of toxic water swelled up from the surface, straight up, before bending forwards in an effort to grab Link. The Hylian had backed himself in the corner, and just inches out of the range of the Morphae. Each of the Morphae had swum upwards into their respective water columns, allowing Link to Hookshot them out.

Or at least, that was what had worked last time. This time, the Longshot quite literally bounced off of the water like it was made of steel. Great. How was he supposed to get at the Morphae now?

"You have to break the surface tension of the water somehow! The Morphae are making it impenetrable by drastically increasing the surface tension!" Ivan hollered over the cacophonous noise of the Morphae. "But Ivan isn't sure how you can combat that!"

If sharp things didn't work, maybe the Megaton Hammer would. It was worth a shot, maybe.

The Hylian heard a queer, implacable noise. He glanced at Nierak's bubble to see a bolt of dark magic careening towards him. Panicking, Link slapped it with the Biggoron Sword and was surprised to see the bolt bounce off of the steel. It collided with the water, which started undulating violently upon making contact.

Glancing upwards, he could see the Zora dark mage preparing another spell. This happened to perfectly coincide with a Morpha tendril appearing from the water's surface. Just as it leaned over to grab Link, the Hylian batted Nierak's beam at it, causing the water to twitch and shake violently. Praying that his theory was correct, Link Longshot the giant amoeba; the attack yanked Morpha Number One out of the water and onto dry land. Right into the corner.

"Perfect!" he exclaimed, drawing the Biggoron Sword and striking the amoeba. Then, seeing that it was getting away, he Longshot it behind him and swung at it again. This time, it was knocked into the corner and further from the water. From there, a few quick swings were all that stood between Morpha Number One and death, but the Hylian wasn't expecting the other three Morphae to appear right behind him. Right as Link dealt the coup de grace on Morpha Number One, corrupted water swirled around him in a toxic vortex, squeezing and constraining him in its grasp. The Morphae picked him up off the ground, thrashed him around a bit in the air, and then held him in place right below Nierak's bubble. Link was pinned by the water; there was nothing he could do. Therefore, he had no choice but to accept the tidal wave of dark magic that Nierak loosed at him. The Hylian caught the full brunt of the blow, grunting in agony as the dark magic nearly ripped him apart.

When the magical energies finally subsided, the Morphae tossed Link across the room like a rag doll, and he smashed into the wall on the other side of the room. He consumed his second-to-last Healing Fairy to revitalize him completely, undoing any of the injuries the Zora dark mage had inflicted.

Ivan shuddered, grimacing, but said nothing.

At least Morpha Number One was down. The other three Morphae were still at large, not to mention Nierak himself. The Hylian backed himself into a corner, just like before, as the dark mage prepared a spell and the Morphae reared their ugly heads. Metaphorically, of course.

He repeated the process for Morpha Number One with Morpha Number Two; hit it with Nierak's dark magic, then Longshot it into a corner and hit it with the Biggoron Sword until it died. This time, however, he made sure to stay as far away as possible from the water's edge, to avoid being grabbed again.

This process repeated itself with Morphae Numbers Three and Four. Several Bubbles of corrupted water dropped from Nierak's bigger bubble, but they were easy enough to pop with the Biggoron Sword.

A burning sensation made itself known at Link's feet. He looked down to see that the water from the basin was… rising?

The Hylian couldn't believe it, but the water level was indeed going up. It was going to fill the room and boil him alive. Ivan swirled around Link's head, glancing in all directions to find some place to hide.

"Link, look! Down there! The water is draining from the basin and moving up! It's going away from where the water is now!" The sprite informed.

Thanking Ivan, Link braved the acidic waters and donned the Iron Boots before ponderously dragging his feet towards the center of the room. He sank beneath the waves and, as Ivan had said, there was a steadily-growing pocket of air underneath the water. Taking off the Iron Boots, Link looked up. It appeared as though the air and water had switched places halfway through the fight.

Nierak laughed. "You'll never defeat me!"

Several water tentacles emerged from the water, despite the fact that there were no Morphae in the corrupted water. They dangled down from the water's surface above Link and thrashed wildly in an effort to slap him with magically enhanced liquid tendrils.

The Hylian kept moving, correctly assuming that the surface tension of the water would mimic the way it was before. Just to make sure, though, he tried to shoot Nierak with an arrow, only to have the bolt snap upon contact with the toxic water. Like before, he would have to wait until the dark mage decided to shoot a bolt of dark magic at him.

Several Bubbles, like the ones from inside Lord Jabu-Jabu's Belly, descended out of the water and towards Link. However, popping them was easy, as they didn't seem to carry the same surface tension properties as the poisonous water above them.

Eventually, Nierak deemed it worthy to sling a spell at Link. The Hylian, after waiting so long for this moment, eagerly slapped it back with the Biggoron Sword. The spell caught the dark mage squarely in the face, and as the bolt made contact with his skin, Nierak stiffened and slumped over a bit, magical energy coursing over his body.

Link Longshot the Zora, yanking him to the bottom of the room. Unfortunately, he took a bubble of water with him, using his dark energy to hold the sphere in place. Link moved to stab him with the Biggoron Sword, only for it to bounce off. Arrows didn't work, so what was left to try?

He cast Din's Fire.

The water surrounding Nierak evaporated into a fine mist and joined the waters above it. The dark mage, now defenseless and slightly wounded from the holy magic, stood and tried to return to the water, where he could rejuvenate and fling more spells at the Hylian. Link threw himself at the magician in an effort to stop him, donning the Iron Boots to ensure that Nierak was held down securely. From there, he drew the Fairy Bow and shot an arrow into Nierak's brain.

Then another one, for good measure.

Nierak gurgled, violet blood oozing from his charred, black scales. He twitched occasionally, still fighting to stay alive somehow. He gasped, greedily drawing in his last breaths.

"You… may you never… find happiness," the Zora gasped, coughing up dark red spittle. "May you die alone… as every man lives and dies… alone…"

He was then still, and never moved again. Link exhaled, letting out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

He watched with satisfaction as the water above him morphed back to its natural clear coloring, the toxins purging themselves from it. It rose out of the room through some kind of valve at the top, returning to Lake Hylia where it belonged.

He stepped through the portal that had appeared at the center of the room, and was whisked away to the Sacred Realm.

**!0*0!**

"Link…" Ruto said, melodiously. "I would have expected no less from the man who saved me from Jabu-Jabu. Zora's Domain- and my people- will soon return to the state they were originally in.

"As a reward… I grant my eternal love to you."

Link, who had been taking a well-deserved drink from his canteen, proceeded to nearly choke on it. "Ruto, I thought we went over this!"

She just cracked a grin. "I know. But your expression right now is priceless!"

Ivan chuckled. "She's right, you know."

The Hero of Time simply rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, I have to guard the Water Temple as the Sage of Water…" Ruto went on. "Don't you dare be discouraged by anything. More hardships await Hyrule, and you're our last hope. But I know that nothing will stop you in your quest for justice… Therefore, I must ask you to take this Medallion… Take it respectfully!"

With an over-the-top amount of fanfare, an ocean blue coin fell from the top of the Chamber of the Sages and landed in Link's outstretched palm.

"If you see Zelda, tell her I said thanks, okay?"

And the Sacred Realm faded to white.

**!0*0!**

The air was warm yet crisp, like it always was just at the beginning of fall. Birds were chirping joyously, and the morning sun was rising over the purified lake.

"Ruto wanted to thank me?" Sheik inquired. "I see… We have to return peace to Hyrule for our sake, too. Don't we?"

"Yes," Link replied simply.

The clean waters of Lake Hylia rose to their normal levels at last. "Look at that, Link. Together, you and Ruto destroyed the evil in the Temple!"

_Together?_ Link thought wryly. _Ruto ditched in the first five minutes!_

"Once again, the lake is pure. All is as it was here."

Link gave an errant glance to the ruins of Khalonir in the distance. But beyond that, it was perfection. Amidst the quiet gurgling of the water in the lake, Link felt at peace. He would have to come back here sometime.

He turned to see that Zelda had disappeared. That was fine. He was content to sit here for as long as he could.

Nierak had been wrong. He had all of Hyrule to keep him company.

**MQ Water Temple is so stupidly easy that I had to take some liberties with some of the rooms. The entire Temple boils down to "shoot plaque" or "use Din's Fire in weird place". That's all it is.**

**Anyway, how many of you expected Nierak to [sort of] replace Morpha as the Water Temple boss? I was dropping hints all throughout the chapter when we met him and last chapter. Always read into the details with me, no matter how throwaway they may seem to be.**

**NOOTCD: I don't think there is anything.**

**Review Please!**


	16. Chapter 15: Out with the Old

**You know, things have been looking pretty good… time to screw everything over.**

**On an unrelated note, we've been getting a ton of reviews, and I'm actually psyched. Thank you all so much!**

**RRRP:**

_ChangelingRin (FF): _I'm pretty proud of last chapter, mostly because of Dark Link and Nierak (love that guy…) This is why, back in chapter 1, I mentioned that your explanation of alternate dimensions made more sense than what I had.

_Setokayba2n (FF): _By "inside-out", I mean I've played both vanilla OOT and MQ enough to complete them with my eyes closed. I don't really have that with Majora's Mask. Regarding Healing Fairies… Link used one in chapter 14 in the fight with Nierak. RIP Nierak, I loved that guy.

_Chapter XV: Roses are red, Kakariko's on fire, and I'm pretty sure Hyrule's state is quite dire_

If Link's memory served him correctly, Bongo Bongo wouldn't break out of the Bottom of the Well for some time yet. And after everything that had happened in the Water Temple, Link figured he deserved the respite. He had passed through several frontier villages on the outskirts of what was once Catalia, according to the locals. If they were disturbed by the blonde cyclops walking through their village, they didn't show it. He supposed everyone was just happy that all the water was purified. Link had tried some of the corrupted water one time, only to vomit it back up a few seconds later along with everything else that was unfortunate enough to be in his stomach at the time.

"Ivan?" Link asked once he had gotten out of town.

"Da?" the fairy responded.

"Tell me more about Catalia. It's piqued my curiosity of late," Link said.

"It's more than that, isn't it?" Ivan replied curtly.

"It's just… remember that little medallion the Great Deku Tree Sprout gave me? It says that my dad is from there," Link informed.

"Really? Let Ivan see it," the sprite commanded. Link forked it over from his Pouch and handed it to his partner, who fingered the medal delicately.

"Hm… Ivan guesses it does say that. But this medallion is of Hylian design… Strange. That seems very self-contradictory, given… well…"

"Given what?"

"Given that Hyrule and Catalia were the two biggest combatants in the Unification War, and that they happened to be fighting against each other."

"Wait, what?"

"See? It doesn't make very much sense! Ivan's best guess is that your father betrayed Catalia to Hyrule due to its no-survivor policy, and that act made him a knight. But it could be any other myriad of things. Nevertheless, this Sir Arn was of Catalian descent and a Hylian knight at the time of the Unification War."

"Why did the Unification War begin, in the first place?" Link asked. "What could possibly cause such devastation, like Khalonir?"

"Ivan will give you three guesses, and the first two don't count."

"The Triforce?" Link drawled.

"Da, the Triforce. Word got out about an infinite power hidden away in the Sacred Realm, and everyone wanted it. So everyone split into different factions and warred amongst each other for decades. The two biggest were Hyrule to the north and Catalia to the south, and they subjugated and consumed the other factions. After the rise of King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule, however, Catalia was decimated and absorbed into greater Hyrule, creating the country we all know today.

"In fact, all those ruins on the northern side of Lake Hylia were once the Hylian city of Sydenal, and the site of the front line for most of the War. Now all that stands is the Lakeside Laboratory and the remains of Khalonir.

"Does that answer your questions?"

"I guess," Link said. "I just wanted to know more about my family. You know I never met them, and I didn't even have this medallion in my last adventure. I just want to know a little more."

Ivan nodded solemnly. "Ivan sees. Now, let's get back to Kakariko, da?"

Link grinned. "Okay."

**!0*0!**

The Sheikah-founded village seemed in good spirits. Most everyone in the town had congregated around Zora's River and were partaking in the clean water. It was drizzling lightly, as well, which seemed to be just as much of a shock to the residents of Kakariko as the cleansed water was.

Link strolled into the village proper, the stationed guards giving him respectful nods as he passed. He returned the gesture, but deep down, the Hero of Time despised it. He had always been rather introverted, even as a youth in Kokiri Forest. All this attention was going to be the death of him someday.

He rapped his knuckles against a nearby tree for good luck.

The rain kept falling, lightly smattering the village with water. People had set out pots by their doors, collecting rainwater for usage in a myriad of things. The village seemed jubilant, now that Zora's River was no longer toxic. Before Nierak had met his end, the people had been forced to come to grips with the fact that they may not live to see the next sunrise due to dehydration; now that they weren't faced with that reality, they seemed consumed by gladness. Their joy brought Link contentment. If people were happy, then he had done his job right.

Link beelined for New Lon Ranch. He was surprised to find that the fields beyond the corral were barren, unlike last time he had been there, where a few scraggly-looking plants could be seen. Instantly, the Hero of Time became terrified that something had happened while he had been in the Water Temple. His fears were assuaged, however, when he saw the small party replanting the fields. It made sense, really; this was the perfect time to prepare a new growing season, given the fact that the water wasn't poison anymore.

Normality was returning to Hyrule. No, that wasn't quite right. It was more like Hyrule, like Link, had woken from a seven-year slumber. Only now was it starting to revert to its former glory. The Hylian smiled contentedly. Some normalcy would be nice.

The group out in the fields, which seemed to be made up of Malon, Anjou's family, and her father's old carpenting troupe, had taken notice of him. They proceeded to drop what they were doing and migrate back to the nearly dilapidated ranch house.

"You're this _Link_, right?" Anjou's father asked. Her brother shied away from his father's voice.

"Yes," Link replied, a bit more tersely than what he originally intended. "What of it?"

Ivan glared at him. Everyone else ignored the fairy.

"Just making sure. No need to get so testy," the carpenter replied.

"I assume you also took care of the water?" Malon interjected. "Just like with Death Mountain?"

"Yeah. If anything, the Water Temple was easier than the Fire Temple, just because it basically boiled down to 'use Din's Fire in weird places' and 'shoot the plaque on the wall'. Anyone could have done it, even the town drunk."

"Really now," she drawled. It wasn't that she didn't believe Link, insofar as what he said was wrong. In all actuality, it was more that she didn't believe that the Water Temple could possibly be _easy_. Did she think he was mocking them for not fixing their own problems?

"I mean, assuming you had all the right equipment and stuff, then it was easy. If you didn't, then it would understandably be monstrously difficult. I have far more experience with dungeon crawling than most," he clarified.

He hadn't even noticed how most of the carpenters leaned in a little to hear more of his words.

Malon seemed pacified. "Okay, but you'll have to tell us the full story tonight. Back to work, guys. I want to get all of these seeds planted by nightfall so that we can be ready for a harvest."

"But Miss Malon, it's almost mid-fall! If we plant all of the seeds now, they're going to be growing through the winter, and with how hyperbole the weather's been, who knows how bad it's going to be?" one of the carpenters protested. "My aunt died of heatstroke just a few days ago! And I know she's not the only one! There hasn't been rain in Kakariko in years if we discredit that four-minute storm two months ago; there's no telling how cold winter's going to be! All the crops are going to die!"

_Four-minute storm?_ Link pondered. _It must have been when I learned the Song of Storms. Wait, that can't be right, because the windmill guy had been playing it for the last seven years… Is it something about the Ocarina of Time that allows things to happen when I play a song? Wait, that can't be it, either; I can play the Sun's Song on the ocarina Saria gave me all that time ago…_

_Goddesses, this is confusing._

"He's right," Anjou asserted. "We can't plant everything, Malon. What happens if they all die? We'll have practically doomed Kakariko."

"We can keep a fourth of the seeds for safekeeping," the ranch owner relented, setting out for the fields once more. "And Link, could you make yourself useful? We need as many hands as we can get."

"You don't even need to ask," the Hero of Time responded. It was like the sun had come out. Here was a place he belonged.

**!0*0!**

"... and then, the next room seemed to stretch on forever, as far as the eye could see and more!" Link continued, waving his arms about in an effort to express just how vast that chamber had been. "There were two doors, and they were both sealed tight. I spent… actually, I don't even know how much time passed in there while I was trying to figure out how to get out!"

Everyone else present at the table leaned in, enraptured by the tale the ex-Kokiri was weaving.

"Eventually, I hear the door unseal, open, and then slam shut again. I turn to the room I had left from to see what just happened, and I'm instantly faced with a _dark copy_ of myself!"

"A what?" everyone interjected.

"Some Dark Link," Link elaborated. "Ivan says it's a ripple across space and time or something like that. Anyway, only one of us could leave, and we had to fight each other to the _death _so that one of us could progress through the temple!"

"Did you die a horrible, brutal death by your evil self? Details, give us details!" one of the carpenters begged.

Everyone stared at him.

"Rozzt, you actual mongoloid," another of the carpenters guffawed. "He can't be dead if he's here!"

"What's a mongoloid?" Link whispered to Ivan.

"The way this leetle baby man is using it, it's a synonym for 'moron'," Ivan explained. "But that's not what it means and you shouldn't use it."

"Got it," Link responded. "So I killed the Dark Link. As soon as he's dead, the infinite room is consumed by this bright white light, and we realized that it's not all that infinite. Somehow, the rather large room tricked us into thinking that there were no walls, and that it stretched on forever. The doors unlocked, so I finally got to leave. The next room…"

And so the night wore on.

**!0*0!**

Even a few weeks later, the earth was wet.

The recent storm still hadn't let up; if anything, it had only crescendoed. Link shuddered as droplets of water repeatedly hit him in the face; the foliage of the tree he was currently trying to sleep under didn't offer enough protection from the rain. He would have taken a room in the nearby inn, but he was out of Rupees and couldn't afford it. One of the carpenters had offered to share a room in the ranch house, but Link had declined; he could tell that it was going to be one of _those_ nights. It would be either a night with nightmares chock full of disturbing amalgamations wedged in between every instant of rest, or a night in which there was no rest at all, Link's mind sluggishly sprinting at the perfect pace to keep Link exhausted, but not asleep.

The storm wasn't helping matters.

If only he still had his hat.

The Hylian adjusted his position on the tree, bark scratching his back through the fabric of his tunic. Best not to think about it. If he didn't get any sleep, he'd soon end up in the graveyard.

"Graveyard…" Link mumbled deliriously. "Hang on…"

"Huh?" Ivan grumbled. "Stop mumbling. Ivan is trying to sleep."

"There's a grave house… we could sleep in… get out of the rain…" Link tiredly suggested.

"As much as Ivan doesn't want you catching a cold, we met Dampé's ghost. Sleeping in his house probably isn't the best idea."

Link sighed. "You have a better idea? I can totally take that gho…"

The Hylian dozed off, only for a rather large raindrop to smack him square in the face.

"Gah! Where is it?! Get away from me!" he yelled, flailing his arms about like a deranged catfish out of the water.

Ivan glanced at his partner. "On second thought, it can't be that bad."

The pair stumbled upright and plodded their way through Kakariko. There was always a sense of eeriness at night, like something just wasn't right. Of course, Link knew that it was because of Bongo Bongo and the Shadow Temple oozing negative energy, but on his first time, Kakariko at night had terrified him. Speaking of the demon, when was it going to free itself? If Link remembered right, it would be tomorrow night. He could take care of it in the morning.

Eventually, they made it to the graveyard. The rain was somehow falling even harder than it was before, drenching the Hylian and his companion. Digging deep into their remaining stores of energy, the pair dashed into the tiny little hut by the graveyard and threw themselves inside, easing the door shut behind them.

**!0*0!**

Link awoke screaming, instigating another iteration of a cycle that had propagated itself all night. Every ten to twenty minutes or so, Link would awaken from a horrible nightmare, eye snapping open as he scrambled to remember just where he was. The commotion would wake Ivan up, who would spend the next half-hour trying to calm Link down with calm, honeyed words. He'd fall asleep again rather quickly, but not before opening the door to air the room out and check if it was daytime yet.

It never was.

"Link, are you alright?" Ivan asked quietly. Even after countless repetitions of this, the fairy still treated it like an emergency every time.

"I'm fine, Ivan," Link groaned, leveraging himself into a standing position. "I'm just tired."

"When are we not?" Ivan inquired rhetorically.

"I mean, more so than usual," the Hylian confessed. He warmed himself by the lit hearth for a while, coaxing heat back into his body, before moving to open the-

Wait.

Dampé's house didn't have a hearth…

Link turned, and realized that what he had mistaken for a fireplace was all fire and no place, an open flame in the hut. And it was spreading.

Link quickly grabbed his items and dashed out the door into the graveyard. Parts of the fences were alight as well. Poes glided around the flames with intent, laughing madly as the wood burned.

The Hylian left the graveyard and entered Kakariko proper, only to realize that it was in just as much pandemonium as the graveyard had been in. Houses had gone up in flames, with people trying desperately to douse them with buckets of water or extricate their loved ones from the wreckage. Memories of Old Lon Ranch surged to the front of Link's mind, and he shoved them back down. Even after all this time, the events of that night still ceaselessly haunted him.

People were screaming for somebody, anybody, to save them from the plumes of fire that licked at their heels. Link kept running. He couldn't afford to stop. Because the only logical conclusion that he could make was that he had been wrong; _now _was the time that Bongo Bongo had freed itself from its prison below the Well. Link absently wondered if Bongo Bongo was the guy who had constructed the Lens of Truth, like that one old man had said. It was possible.

He made it to the Well, and as he guessed, Zelda was there. She was still disguised as Sheik, though, and she was eyeing the Well with no lack of suspicion- and muted terror.

"Get back, Link!" she warned before the other Hylian had any time to say anything. As soon as she said that, the wooden structure atop the Well burst off, careening into the sky before falling back down again. It smashed into the stone stairs inches behind Link, breaking into pieces with a loud noise, causing Link to instinctively turn around. It then started to rain even harder, cleansing water slowly dousing the fires.

A yelp from Sheik prompted Link to whirl again, only to see her being tossed around in the wind like a ragdoll. He drew his bow and arrow but quickly reconsidered; since he didn't have the Lens of Truth, he couldn't see Bongo Bongo's eye, and even if he could, he was endangering the princess by trying. Eventually, the evil spirit chucked Sheik to the wayside, and she smashed into the mud at the foot of the stairs. Drawing the Biggoron Sword, Link ran down the stairs towards the disguised Sheikah, kneeling when he got to her.

"Are you alright?" he demanded. "If that's what killed you, I'll go to Heaven just to kill you again!"

He knew she was alive, but given her recent doubts about how much he trusted her, he figured it was for the best if he said something like that.

She chuckled, almost inaudibly. "I'm fine, Link. Now get out of here while you still can!"

"Hell no," Link refuted. "The rain's already dousing the fires. Besides, fighting is the one thing I'm really good at."

Even from his current perspective, Link could see Ivan cringe.

He didn't miss the shadow cast by nothing streak along the landscape, as if surveying the destruction of the town before descending into it, heading straight for Link.

Link summoned his Stalfos Shield and raised his Biggoron Sword, ignoring Sheik's protests. He knew it wasn't going to do him much good, but maybe if he got lucky, he could kill the beast right then and there.

But if he did that, how was Impa supposed to awaken as a Sage? She couldn't, could she?

The moment of indecision allowed Bongo Bongo to slam into Link at full speed, throwing Link backwards almost fifty feet. Darkness consumed his vision, and he remembered no more.

**!0*0!**

When Link came to, the first thing he saw was the old windmill, blades still turning endlessly. Like time, it could only go forwards.

The fuzzy parts of his vision coalesced into the concerned forms of Sheik and Ivan. They flitted in and out of focus before finally staying there.

"Looks like you're finally coming around…" Sheik said.

"Oh, thank the Bogini," Ivan sighed. "Leetle man worries Ivan too much."

"Link, a terrible thing has happened! The evil shadow spirit has been released! Impa, the leader of Kakariko, had sealed the demon in the Well years ago… but with Ganondorf's rise to power, the seal became ever weaker, and eventually, it was able to break free! I believe Impa has gone to the Shadow Temple to seal the evil again, but… she'll be in danger without any assistance! Link, Impa is one of the six Sages! You have to vanquish the evil in the Temple to save her and Kakariko!"

"Okay, all right. Can you teach me the teleportation song now?" Link drawled. "I'm kind of out of it right now and I don't want to forget it."

Zelda rolled her eyes. "There's an entrance to the Shadow Temple behind the graveyard in the Village… The only thing I can do for you is to teach you the melody that will lead you to the temple. This is the melody that will drive you into the infinite void that consumes even time… Listen well to the Nocturne of Shadow…"

She withdrew the harp and plucked seven chilling notes from it. Link followed suit with the Ocarina of Time, and memories of playing the tune surged into his brain. He'd never forget that feeling.

"I'll take care of the village! We're counting on you, Link!"

With that, she disappeared with the flash of a Deku Nut. And Link was alone, a spot of light in a world of darkness.

He wanted to scream. He wanted to rip the Goddesses to shreds and stamp their disgusting and monstrous creations underfoot. He stalked to the dilapidated well and kicked it repeatedly. The first time, he imagined it was Ganondorf. The second, he imagined it was Zelda, the one that had betrayed him. Then he imagined it was himself, again and again and again.

**!0*0!**

"Link! Are you alright! What happened!" Malon asked fervently, desperation filling her voice.

The Hero of Time had returned to New Lon Ranch only to find it in a somehow even sorrier state than the first day he had seen it. The fires had spread to the newly planted seedlings, razing them before they had a chance to grow. In other words, Kakariko was without food again, and the Ranch was nearly out of seedlings. This meant, in essence, that the entire village would starve if they didn't procure foodstuffs from _somewhere_. While the village had been presumably living off of old stores of food for the last seven years, Link doubted that they would last much longer.

His fears were practically confirmed when he had noticed a half-battalion of Hylian Knights trailing the path to New Lon Ranch, Commander Rusl among them. If the situation was so bad that the entire order-maintaining body in the town had to get involved, it must have been particularly catastrophic.

"I'm fine, Mal," Link assured. "But if Rusl is here, I must be among the lucky few."

"Aye," the knight commander lamented. "The village's food reserves are nearly exhausted. Those seeds were among our last hope, but then this fire happened… nobody could have predicted this."

Link internally punched himself for not remembering, gently biting his lower lip. If Ivan noticed the gesture, he didn't comment. "The fires were caused by a phantom that had been sealed below the Well for the last few centuries or so. Now that Ganondorf's taken over Hyrule, it was able to break the seal and cause all this chaos. According to my sources, it's retreated to the Shadow Temple and shouldn't interfere much with Kakariko for now. That Temple's my next stop.

"But I'm not going to go to the Temple until this crisis is solved. We just need to figure out a solution of some kind," Link finished.

Rusl blinked. "Kid, why do you know all of this?"

"I am not at liberty to divulge that information," the Hero of Time replied. "Zel- er, I mean, my informants would probably kill me."

"Link," Malon interjected softly, "you don't _have_ informants. Don't mind him, Sir Rusl, he's just messing with you."

The swordsman turned to face her. "Okay, so _maybe_ I don't have informants. I just know everything. Is that fair?"

The rancher shot him a knowing glance. "Much better."

Rusl coughed into his fist, evidently flabbergasted by the words being tossed between Link and Malon. "Uh, could we perhaps get back on track? Kakariko matters more than who's telling Link about what's going to happen."

"Zora's River just got cleansed a few weeks ago," Link noted. "Could we get fish from there?"

"We tried that," the knight-commander rejected. "The corrupted water got most of them. It will be quite some time before they begin to come back."

"What about the other towns?" Link suggested. "Could we try pooling our resources?"

"That would only dilute our efforts. The other villages had been struggling just as much as we had been before the water was cleansed. If we all rationed out everything equally, the other villages would have much less food than they currently do, and the Knight's Code states that we must preserve the welfare of all, not just one village. On our honor, we cannot do that."

The Hero of Time continued to bounce ideas off of Rusl, only for them to be denied due to logical and sensible reasons. Eventually, Link gave up and stared off into the distance, racking his brain for any ideas.

"Um," Malon said, garnering the two men's attention. "There might be a store of food and seedlings at Old Lon Ranch… If we could get past the Lynels, we might be able to salvage something."

"Bad idea," Ivan interjected. "Lynels are quick, smart, and powerful. They could sever a man clean through in just one swing- and that's assuming the man's wearing light armor. To assault Old Lon Ranch would call for a large force, and the cost of life would be steep."

"Have you got any better ideas?" Link asked his partner.

"... Well, no, but it doesn't change the fact that people are going to _die_ if we do this thing."

"Is that a price we're willing to pay?"

"If it is necessary to preserve the people of Hyrule," Rusl affirmed. "I am willing to lay down my life for the people of this village, and my men are no less eager. What say both of you?"

"Consider me a part of this," Link affirmed.

"I'm coming too," Malon affirmed.

"Out of the question," the Hero of Time refuted.

Rusl said nothing, merely looking at Malon expressionlessly.

"Excellent!" Ivan exclaimed.

The Hero and his partner both turned to stare at each other like they were completely psychotic.

"Ivan, I'm not letting Malon go to Old Lon Ranch," Link stated. "You said yourself that Lynels are quick, smart, and powerful. It's too risky."

"A risk that you're putting yourself in," the sprite pointed out. "Malon knows Old Lon Ranch like the back of her hand, and she can handle herself rather well. You saw how she was with the Wolfos pack.

"No matter how leetle man looks at it, this Malon and your first Malon are very different from each other, and you're projecting your memories of the first Malon onto this one," he whispered. "This Malon is stronger, more determined, and more willing to do what it takes. Ivan does not think that can be said quite as well about the first Malon you encountered."

"A Wolfos is not a Lynel," Link said derisively. "I can't afford to lose her. If I do, I… I don't know what I'll do."

"She will be just fine," Ivan assured. "Ivan will be looking after her. If Ivan cannot, feel free to use Ivan as a healing fairy."

Link pondered it, then sighed. "You're right, Ivan. As usual. Mal, you're on board."

"Excellent," Rusl said. "We leave at dusk. Hopefully the element of surprise will aid us in this critical endeavour."

**!0*0!**

True to the knight-commander's word, the entirety of the order of knights were ready to march on Old Lon Ranch. They looked afraid, but determined. Link could respect that.

Link was behind the main line, next to Malon in order to keep an eye on her. Ivan had laughed out loud when he had told him that that was his purpose, and he wasn't sure why.

"Uh…"

"Yes?" Malon replied tersely, fingering her knife.

"Look, I'm sorry for being against letting you go on this mission," Link apologized. "It's just… you're the only one I've told about… well… you know… And I just couldn't stand it if I lost you… because… I'd have lost one of my only friends," he finished lamely.

She sighed. She'd been doing that a lot recently. "Water under the bridge, Link. I get it."

"So why did you decide to come to this? I didn't think it would be your cup of tea," Link asked, trying to make conversation.

"It's not," Malon agreed. "But… well…"

"If you don't want to talk about it, it's fine," Link said. "I won't pry."

"No, I should get it off my chest," she replied. "It's just… I never got to see father and Ingo's bodies, much less bury them. I was sort of hoping that once all this was over, we could give them a proper funeral.

"That, and… I always had these dreams of knights in shining armor sweeping me off my feet when I was younger. Once father and Ingo died, though, I realized that nobody was coming to save us. You tried your best, but… you were just a little kid. You were hopelessly outmatched by Ganondorf, and there was nothing you can do. It's part of why I stuck with being a rancher before the smog around Death Mountain cleared; because I couldn't just let anyone else lose their loved ones. I had to _do_ something. I guess the reason why I'm going back to Old Lon is to… prove that I can be my _own_ knight in shining armor. Goddesses, I must sound crazy, don't I?"

"Makes perfect sense to me," Link said, wrapping an arm around her torso awkwardly. "I'm sorry I couldn't have done any better back then. I…"

She reciprocated his motion, except with a more natural fluidity that eluded Link despite his efforts to the contrary. "No more apologies. Just being my Link is enough."

Wait.

_Her_ Link?

Ivan groaned playfully, interrupting the Hero of Time's train of thought. "It took you long enough!"

"Ivan!" Malon replied hotly.

Link blinked. "What's he talking about?"

"Nothing!" the rancher burst, cutting off the fairy before he could respond. "Just- pretend he never said anything in the first place. Clear?"

"As crystal," the Hero of Time replied, returning to his embrace. He wasn't quite sure what Ivan was on about, or why Malon seemed so defensive about it, but if it meant more of this, he wouldn't be complaining.

**!0*0!**

By midnight, the party was approaching the ramshackle ruins of Old Lon Ranch. Even from a few kilometers out, they could hear the disgusting sounds of ancient abominations stalking through the darkness of Hyrule Field, eagerly hunting their prey.

The ear splitting screech of an Elder Skullfos in the distance put the entire group on edge, and the following swarm of rabid Keese didn't help matters. Distant rumbles shook the plains, but they seemed to be decreasing in volume and intensity, implying that whatever was making those vibrations wasn't moving towards them. An animalistic scream of some hideous creature soon followed.

There was silence after that. The only sound that permeated the fields was the periodic clink of the armor of the knights that beelined for a destroyed ranch. Their breaths mingled, and each man was aware that it may very well be among his last.

Link wasn't used to being alone anymore; he had had Navi and Ivan for too long now. Therefore, when his partner fairy splintered off to keep an eye on Malon, Link felt prone. Exposed to the elements in a way he somehow hadn't been before. That was nonsense. He had lived ten years of his life without having a fairy. A few more hours wouldn't change anything.

It didn't help his stress.

A faint thump sounded from right behind him. Link whirled around, Biggoron Sword half drawn, only to see that the knight marching behind him had dropped his shield. Both men apologized profusely before returning to their death march.

By then, Lon Lon Ranch had fully come into view. Even this late at night, shapes were visibly moving along the ruined walls of what was once a farm. The Hero of Time squinted, trying to make out anything from the shadowy images. Ivan had said nothing about the Lynels having access to horses.

Then one of the Lynels emerged from the ruins and Link gasped. It wasn't riding a horse. It practically _was_ a horse. The beast had four muscular, hooved legs attached to a horse's midsection. However, where the head of the horse would normally be, the Lynel had a human body with two bulky arms. It had a massive broadsword in its grasp that looked sharp enough to cut through even the thickest of armor like it was nothing. Its head was wreathed with a great red mane, with two tusks, hateful crimson eyes, and a boar-like face poking out from the shock of hair.

It was soon joined by more Lynels. Eight more, to be exact. They didn't appear as powerful as the head Lynel, which Link assumed to be their leader, but the other Lynels still looked massively strong. Each held a gargantuan spear, perfect for a being of their stature.

They reared up before unanimously charging forwards to meet the knights in the plains. It made sense, Link supposed. Fighting in the closed quarters of Old Lon Ranch would aid the Hylians in flanking their forces and overpowering them. He had to hand it to these Lynels, they weren't unintelligent.

The knights drew their weapons. Most of them were broadswords, and looked to be in bad shape. A few of the soldiers had spears, some had maces, and the entire back row was equipped with bows and a good number of arrows each. They were hardly equipped for dealing with the Lynels, Link realized with a feeling of dread.

"Steady… Steady…" Rusl, who happened to be standing right next to Link, ordered. Behind them, the archers each nocked an arrow and aimed for the Lynels. Meanwhile, the lion-centaurs were still charging with abandon towards their foes. "Wait for it…"

They were two hundred meters away. One hundred. Fifty.

"Wait for it…"

"What the hell are you waiting for?!" Link questioned quietly. "They're right there!"

Rusl ignored him.

The Lynels were practically upon them. Any closer, and they'd be able to kill whatever knights happened to be in the front line. Including Link.

"Split!" the knight-commander suddenly ordered.

With almost practiced ease, the Kakariko knights suddenly threw themselves out of the path of the racing Lynels. The beasts, not expecting the sudden change in tactics, charged blindly past the entire Hylian force and skidded to a stop behind their forces.

"Fire!"

A wave of arrows loosed themselves towards the now-exposed Lynels. Most of them missed due to the awkward position of most of the Hylians, but the few that hit elicited roars of agony from their victims.

Link turned to Rusl, a questioning look in his eyes. "How… did you know… that would work?"

"I didn't," Rusl answered honestly. "A good soldier has to be able to work on the fly. Charge!"

With that, the knights broke into a sprint, weapons drawn. Roughly equal numbers of the force split off to deal with each Lynel. Some of the groups were able to get to their respective targets faster and overwhelm them with sheer force. Others, including the party Link happened to be in, weren't as lucky, as the Lynels had recovered from the arrows and were now deftly cleaving through most of their ranks. Maybe the Link that Link had been before Zelda sent him back would have been able to fight off one of the Lynels in a contest of brute strength, but the Link that was part Stalfos most certainly couldn't. He would have to employ another strategy in order to effectively fight off the Lynels.

He withdrew his Longshot and carefully aimed for his Lynel's head, hoping to stun it for long enough for his contingent of knights to get in. Unfortunately, the mane shifted at the last second, and the metal head of the chain became entangled in its hair. The ensuing recoil yanked Link up onto the beast's head, past its massive blade. The Longshot chose that moment to disentangle from the Lynel's hair, dropping Link right onto its back.

The Lynel in question started bucking about madly in an effort to get its unwanted passenger off of its back. Without thinking, Link drove the Biggoron Sword into the creature's torso and clung to its hilt for dear life, not realizing that the knights were taking the opportunity to pepper the dying beast with arrows. After far too long being spent thrown around on the Lynel's back, it finally collapsed to the ground in its death throes.

Withdrawing his bloodstained blade from the creature's corpse, Link and the remaining soldiers in his squad perused the battle for a moment. Five of the nine Lynels had been taken down, but the other four were very much alive and kicking- literally, as some of the knights had seen Link's stunt and decided to try to replicate it. Of all the Lynels, only the red-maned one appeared to be largely unharmed, and it was surrounded by a circle of dead knights. Link wasn't sure if Rusl was among them. The Lynel leader glanced off into the distance errantly before darting off in that direction. Link followed its path with his eyes, only to see a spark of light directly in the direction it was going.

It was Ivan. But wasn't Ivan supposed to stay with Malon?

"Oh, dear Goddesses. We can't let that Lynel get away!" Link shouted. "How many of us have arrows?"

They were low on arrows; they'd used most of them on the other Lynels. It took them a few seconds to scavenge a few arrows from their Lynel's corpse.

"I'm not going to give you orders, just _bring that Lynel down!_" he screamed, drawing his Fairy Bow and nocking an arrow. "_Ignis_," he whispered, and the arrow lit itself on fire. He loosed the arrow, taxing his magical reserves somewhat as the flames arced towards the charging Lynel. He thought he had missed, but a fierce gust of wind happened to coincide with his firing of the arrow, and it carried the bolt right into the Lynel's mane. The hair proceeded to burst into flames, and the lead monster had to take some time to beat the fire out of itself.

By this time, the rest of the battle had started to wind down. While each Lynel had brought down a substantial number of knights, the sheer number of Hylian soldiers had managed to overwhelm the beasts. Right now, the Red Lynel was the only one left.

It turned, setting its sights on Link. It reared up on its hind legs and roared in anger before setting itself back down and charging at him. The knights around him nocked a few arrows, but the Red Lynel scooped up the corpse of one of the other lynels mid-sprint and lobbed it at the knights preparing to fire. Some of them managed to dodge the impromptu attack, but the others were crushed under the weight of the strange projectile.

They managed to get a few arrows in the Lynel, but nowhere near enough to bring it down. It swung its enormous broadsword at the small group, hitting anyone who wasn't fast enough to dodge it. Thankfully, the attack didn't kill anyone outright, but it injured quite a few of Link's soldiers.

Link shot another Fire Arrow at it, only for the attack to miss entirely. This gave the Lynel the opportunity to bring its blade down on top of Link, but the Hylian managed to avoid the blow by mere inches by rolling forwards. This brought him close enough to swing at one of the Lynel's legs, which he did with the Biggoron Sword, scoring a fine hit.

The Lynel reared up as more arrows sprouted along its body. Link looked up at the underside of the beast's hoof and realized with a sudden sense of dread that it was going to smash into his face. He rolled to his right, away from the Lynel as it smashed back down. Unfortunately, this gave the Lynel the perfect position to swing its blade at Link, and the Hylian couldn't retaliate due to the fact that he was lying prone aside the centaur.

His vision swiftly went black as the sharp pain of being cut through by a broadsword permeated his being. Then there was the soothing relief of a fairy releasing itself from one of his bottles, healing his wounds before disappearing.

Link came to again with startling clarity, as he saw that massive blade descend once again towards his midsection. Behind the blade, something silver streaked across the sky and lodged itself in the Lynel's head.

It was like time froze until a soft gurgling noise came from the monster as it collapsed on itself. It didn't move again. Something had killed it.

Link staggered to his feet, squinting with his good eye at the scene. Hylian and Lynel corpses alike were strewn about Hyrule Field. Standing in the middle of it were the knights, still breathing heavily, and oddly enough, Malon and Ivan. She was missing her knife.

Link sheathed the Biggoron Sword and cautiously approached the deceased Red Lynel. It had a pommel rammed into its brain, and upon yanking the small blade out of its cranium, Link realized that it wasn't even a sword.

He walked back to the much smaller group of knights as they began to filter into the Ranch. Malon and Ivan stayed there, staring off into the distance with an implacable look in their eyes. Link knew that look; he'd worn it too many times for him not to recognize it on sight. It was a look of numb, alien detachment.

"Here's your knife back," Link said, offering the bloody blade to the rancher. In the moonlight, it was glinted a fiery red. Almost as red as Malon's hair.

She gingerly accepted the blade, idly setting it down in the grass.

"That was a hell of a throw. You saved my life there, you know," Link congratulated. "You're practically my knight in shining armor."

That elicited a smile, but the expression didn't reach her eyes. Then it was gone as quickly as it had appeared.

"I'm being serious," Link continued, moving a little bit closer. "You've saved me more than you know. Not just right now, either. The last time all of this happened, I didn't tell anyone about it. It tormented me. Just having someone to confide in was probably the best decision I've ever made in my life."

Where had Ivan flown off to? Link decided that he didn't care.

"Even seven years ago, you've been saving me. That was when I was at my most volatile. You were one of those rare bright spots that I had to learn to savor. If you hadn't been there… to be honest, I don't know where I'd be. I… I need you, Mal. More than you need me."

They sat there for some time in silence. Somehow, they were smiling giddily, so much that it hurt. But it was a good sort of pain. It was a most exquisite hell.

**!0*0!**

Old Lon Ranch didn't have much out in the open; if there ever had been, the Lynels would have gotten to it. Most of the goods that weren't canned or bottled had gone bad, so there was not much in the way of immediate food.

But there were seeds. Seedlings of all sorts of sizes and colors populated the remains of the Ranch. It wouldn't be easy for Kakariko, but there was a start.

Link felt Malon's hand squeeze his. He squeezed it back. They would be just fine.

**I think the ending to this chapter gave me cavities.**

**At least we have the Bottom of the Well next chapter to take care of that.**

**NOOTCD: Lynels are from the original LOZ, Zelda II, and a few others, including BOTW. I used the Breath of the Wild appearance for the Lynels just because it's the most up-to-date, but I took a few liberties (like how the Red Lynel was the strongest).**

**On a completely unrelated note, please blast "Bombs for Throwing At You" during the battle scene this chapter. You'll know why.**

**Review Please!**


	17. Chapter 16: spooky name

**If I had planned these updates at all, I would have first posted two weeks earlier- that way, this chapter would be uploaded on Halloween. But I didn't, so it wasn't.**

**In other news, I will assume FF dot net ate all of your reviews. It does that sometimes.**

**MQ Bottom of the Well challenged me more than I'm willing to admit. I scoured the dungeon so many times until I just blew up that one pile of ash and found a gold button. It was infuriating, but I love it. Mainly because you don't have to fight Dead Hand to finish it.**

**RRRP: No one.**

_Chapter XVI: Auspicious Abysmal Anterior Adventures_

Link stepped off of the pedestal, the Master Sword gleaming in the light filtering through the massive window in the Temple of Time. It was much brighter than it was in the future, probably due to the violet haze surrounding Castle Town. He spent a few seconds getting his bearings; he wasn't used to being a child anymore. His Stalfos Hand was its pristine off-white again, but he still had the Interloper ring on his finger. Interestingly, he got his hat back. But to his major irritation, he still couldn't see anything out of his left eye.

"Ivan forgot just how different you look from an adult to a child," his partner suddenly said. "Ivan means, you're tiny, you don't have that white shirt and pants under the tunic, your hair is less greasy, you don't have earrings, and more importantly, you're a lot scarier."

Link blinked. "How do you mean?" He hated his voice. It wasn't fitting anymore. Maybe it never was.

"Leetle man's eyes don't match with the childish face," Ivan supplied. "They've seen too much. It's like someone with all their skin peeled off; it's unsettling."

Link stepped off of the Pedestal of Time, only to trip on something and fall gracelessly down the stone stairs. Genuinely angry, he turned to see what he had stumbled over, only to see a mass of bandages spanning from his foot to the dais. Gingerly, Link felt at his head, only to find that the bandages that had covered his blind eye were gone.

"Are you alright?" Ivan questioned, concern laced into his voice.

"I'm fine, Ivan," Link assured. "Just not used to being a little kid. That, and I had no idea I was going to _shrink_ out of my bandages."

Ivan chortled. "Here. Let Ivan fix that for you."

They spent the next few minutes adjusting the bandages so that they covered Link's bad eye. Even with the powers he had gained from the future, Link still felt weak. He felt fatigue, pain, and depression worse than he'd ever felt it seven years from then. It was probably because he'd been battling those emotions more in this time than in the future. He took a few deep breaths, adjusted his belt, and left the Temple of Time.

It was midday. The little side street that connected the Temple to the main square was barren, as usual, but the rest of Castle Town appeared to be bustling. People still haggled over prices at the various stores, but there was a marked dampening of the atmosphere due to the death of the King at the hands of Ganondorf. At least the Gerudo man was stuck in the Sacred Realm for, what, a year?

"I heard a little boy tried to fight Ganondorf as he chased after the Princess, right in front of the castle gates," Link overheard someone say.

"Really?" someone else responded.

"Yup. Of course, Ganondorf hardly batted an eye. Rumor has it he plucked the kid up and ripped all of his limbs off before throwing him into the moat. Then he blew up Lon Lon Ranch just because he knew the kid was friends with the ranchers."

"No, that's not right," a third voice piped up. "I heard that the kid was working for Ganondorf the whole time, and spent that night nearly five months ago relaying his findings. Come on, what child would try to fight the King of the Gerudo?"

Link was visibly shaking, rage blotting out all coherent thoughts. He couldn't stand these people, who lacked knowledge on his situation at the time, belittling him and even going so far as to say he was aiding and abetting Ganondorf. They were repulsive gossips and nothing more.

"Leetle man, let's go," Ivan warned quietly. His partner didn't need to be told twice. Had he stayed any longer, he would have punched those voices in the face. Or worse.

**!0*0!**

Hyrule Field smelled of mid-autumn. The air was crisp and cool, a welcome change from the humidity of the summer. However, the army of mosquitos buzzing around Link's head evidently never got the memo. By the time Link had walked a third of the way to Kakariko, they must have drained half the blood in his body. He decided that he'd had enough. He stole away from the main trail, which was filled with a procession of people moving to Kakariko Village, and used Din's Fire from behind the cover of a small hill. The sudden blast of heat fried all of the parasitic insects, and a rain of corpses occurred for a short time afterwards.

At least they were just mosquitoes, and not the aberrant forms that had taken up residence after Ganondorf's takeover.

He rejoined the caravan of refugees, careful to avoid any shocks of red hair that stood out from the crowd, as they made their way to the village nestled in the rocks. Some of them had horses or little carriages. Most didn't. The only thing they had in common was that they were all travelling east, away from Hyrule Castle Town. Evidently, the knights had galvanized the populus into getting to Kakariko for their own safety even before Ganondorf had returned.

By that evening, they had made it to the formerly Sheikah village. Link had forgotten just how small it was before it became a glorified refugee camp. It was cleaner and didn't reek of death now. The air was no longer filled with acrid haze, and Zora's River provided nourishment to the town.

Most of the travelers split off into the town, towards one of the various run-down looking hotel complexes that Link was pretty sure wasn't there before his sword-induced coma. He shook off the sudden feeling of nausea that consumed his being and stalked through the deteriorating town. Every step brought him closer to the well and the windmill. Every step brought him closer to the very place he didn't want to be. He swallowed his fear and fingered the Ocarina of Time.

"Okay, Ivan. Do you know why we went back in time?"

"Honestly? Ivan has no clue," Ivan responded.

"Basically, remember the guy you called Sheik who lives in that windmill?"

"Psikh, leetle man," Ivan corrected. "It means crazy."

"Oh… anyway, we're here to drive him insane by teaching him the song that he'll teach us in the future. Or taught? Don't think about it. The less you think about it, the better."

"But… we're going to teach him the song he taught us seven years from now… Doesn't that create a time paradox?" Ivan pondered. "Good grieving, this is giving Ivan a headache."

"Like I said, don't think about it," Link replied, stepping into the windmill. He wasted no time in walking up to the bearded man inside and playing the Song of Storms. It began to rain heavily, causing the windmill to go completely haywire. The mill spiraled out of control as lightning illuminated the landscape outside. Link felt sorry for the refugees outside for an instant before shoving that emotion down into the depths.

"Round… and round… and round… what? It's going too fast! You did this! You ruined my windmill!" the psychopath screamed, sounding absolutely murderous. It was then that Link noticed the steak knife hanging on the wall behind the windmill man and fully comprehended the demented glint in his eyes, not to mention realized that there was a tunnel straight to inside Dampe's grave connecting from the windmill for _some_ twisted reason.

"We should go," Ivan suggested, his partner hastening to oblige.

**!0*0!**

The well was now devoid of its contents. Link mentally kicked himself for not putting some of the water in his canteen before he drained it. Then he reconsidered it; it probably wasn't very good water anyway.

"Ivan has a bad feeling about this," Ivan mumbled before Link backflipped down the well. "Hey! When are you going to stop doing that?"

"Never!" Link shot back playfully before venturing into the gaping hole at the bottom of the well.

As he descended further below Kakariko, what little light that was filtering through from the surface slowly faded away until it was almost dark enough for Link to not be able to see ten feet in front of him. The walls were dank and slick with green and red mosses- at least, Link _hoped_ they were mosses. The air was stale and reeked of death and decay, eliciting a violent sneeze from the child Hero. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Link tiptoed forwards and into a small hole made of stone, his miniscule body allowing him to slip through the gap. As good as his adult body was, it wouldn't have been able to get through that hole.

"Okay, Ivan," Link started. "This place is filled with illusions. Like walls that aren't really there. Invisible enemies. Monsters that pop out of nowhere. And the…" he shuddered. "The Dead Hand."

By this time, he had finally extricated himself from the tiny tunnel, revealing a wider tunnel that had a sheer drop. Fortunately, the drop wasn't very high and had chains hanging off of it, allowing Link to safely rappel straight to the bottom if he so wished. More chains hung from the ceiling, dripping with what Link prayed to the Goddesses was just water. The small tunnel was filled with several piles of ash and grime and a skeleton chained to the wall, but the thing that caught Link's eye the most was the fact that, at the end of the hallway, the tunnel opened up to the central room. There was supposed to be an illusory wall there that supposedly blocked him from entering. Link wasn't complaining, though; the less illusions were scattered throughout this twisted labyrinth, the better.

Then he tripped.

With a shout of surprise, Link tumbled gracelessly onto the floor, entangling himself in several rusted chains, and then squealed in the most undignified manner possible as he felt something grab his leg. In his defense, the Redead was blending in perfectly with one of the heaps of ash and decaying material before Link quite literally stumbled across it. The zombie-like monstrosity quickly dragged itself up Link's childish body before driving its teeth into the back of the Hylian's cranium. He struggled violently in a vain attempt to get the Redead off of him. Unfortunately, he only managed to further ensnaring himself in the chains suspended from the ceiling.

Eventually, he succeeded in throwing the Redead off of him with a blast of fire magic. Then the Hero of Time drew his pathetically short Kokiri Sword and slashed wildly at the chains restraining him, finally succeeding in ripping off enough of them to give him freedom of movement. From there, he could finally ram his blade down the Redead's throat with the help of Ivan's Mind Hacking, ending its existence.

He took a moment to catch his breath, which Ivan used to idly chat with the souls of the damned dead haunting the Bottom of the Well.

"Ivan can hear the spirits whispering in this room… 'Find the eye of truth'... that's what they say."

"They're talking about the Lens of Truth," Link explained. "It's a magical artifact that allows people to see through illusions."

"Ah."

He walked into the central chamber, only to find that the path to the epicenter of the massive room was cordoned off by rusted old iron gates. There must be some way to remove those bars.

So he beelined for the back of the main room, ignoring everything else that he happened to see, including the small inlets etched into the sides of the room. He did note several brown boulders that looked fragile enough to break with bombs. On the other side of the central chamber was a hideous snakelike face spewing water from its mouth. Right in front of it was a Triforce plaque etched into the stone. Link withdrew his Ocarina of Time and played Zelda's Lullaby, hoping that it would drain the water so that he could fight the Dead Hand, get the Lens of Truth, and not have to spend another instant in this Goddesses-forsaken place.

However, the song didn't dispel the waters. Instead, Link heard the grating noise of rusted steel on rusted steel. He turned to see that the gates behind him had ascended, allowing him access to the center area of the room. He turned to explore it more before he heard something.

"Wait!" Ivan suddenly said. "Look here!"

Link followed Ivan as it flew over towards the stone face, illuminating its right hand. Link couldn't see it in the gloom before, but Ivan's light revealed a diamond switch in the statue's grasp. He withdrew his Slingshot, spending a good minute trying to operate it like a bow and arrow before realizing that it was not, in fact, the Fairy Bow, and hit the Switch. The Switch caused all the water to drain out of the room. Convenient.

Link took a shortcut through the now-opened central part of the room, in which there was a large chest. He opened it and discovered the Dungeon Map, although to his chagrin, he was so short that he had to physically jump in order to get at the contents of the chest. He suddenly wondered why he'd never considered it before.

To waste some time, Link took a left at the large wooden crossbuck right at the center of the room and shot the diamond switch embedded in the wall. He heard a torch behind him ignite and a door unseal, allowing Link to explore it.

The room was rather small and didn't have anything in it except three floating pots. But they weren't really floating pots; rather, the floor beneath the pots was invisible. So Link confidently stepped onto what appeared to be thin air, ignoring Ivan's chastising, and carefully walked around the room towards another section of visible floor. On the other section of floor was a Small Key. It wasn't even in a chest, funnily enough. Link picked it up and stored it, even though he knew he probably wouldn't use it.

**!0*0!**

"Okay. Time to end this," Link said, breaking into a jog as he returned to the beginning of the Well. He dropped down into a basin that had previously been filled with water, ignoring the nauseating squelch of his feet hitting the bottom. He gingerly made his way to the right side of the basin and pressed himself into the grime at the bottom, in order to squeeze into a small hole. He suppressed a wave of claustrophobia as he dragged himself through the tunnel, hideous echoes of moaning Redeads bouncing all throughout the place.

After far too much time, Link made it to the other side and hurriedly threw himself onto the upper level. There was a steel door there, which Link slowly stepped through. It closed itself behind him, iron bars descending from above and locking it shut.

Several violet, bloody hands stretched from the brown ground, as if trying to claw their way to the surface. The limbs dangled there, swaying ever so slightly to give a feeling of surrealism to them. The Hylian took a step forward, only to hear a sickening crunch. He looked down and realized that he had stepped on and broken a human skull. On closer inspection, the entire room's walls were made out of compressed bone and Goddesses knew what else.

"What… in the Goddesses' green earth… are we looking at?" Ivan questioned.

"This is a Dead Hand," Link informed. "You're only seeing its infinite hands. There's a body that's even more grotesque hiding below us, ready to spring out as soon as those hands get ahold of us."

"Oh, _those_ things," Ivan said, shuddering. "Ivan has heard of them, but never seen them. If Ivan's sources are right, you can prompt them to come out of hiding by detonating an explosive right on top of them."

Link thought for a moment. "That's better than intentionally getting grabbed by a hand. Thanks, Ivan."

He tucked himself in a corner of the room and pawed through his pouch, eventually finding his Bomb Bag. After stowing his pouch away again, though, the Hylian came across a problem.

"How do I know where to put my bombs?"

"Ivan doesn't know… Do you know?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't be asking you," Link grumbled before lobbing a bomb randomly into the center of the room. The ensuing explosion caused a depression in the bone floor, but otherwise did nothing.

He traveled further up the room, away from the door, lobbing bombs about in hopes of finding the Dead Hand. He failed, but the wanton explosions revealed a Small Key hidden in an ash pile in the upper-right corner of the room. Granted, it didn't help him kill the Dead Hand, but it was still nice.

Link remembered that there were several boulders scattered throughout the dungeon, and he was getting dangerously low on bombs. He had no choice but to swallow his fears and allow himself to be ensnared by the Dead Hand.

With lightning speed, the undead limb bent down and seized Link's head in an iron grip. On the other side of the room, the body of the Dead Hand erupted from the dark earth and started shuffling towards Link, agonizingly slowly, as the boy viciously thrashed in the hand's grip. Eventually, he was able to slip out of its grasp and, now unencumbered, drew the Kokiri Sword. He was reminded once again of just how tiny it was as it sat in his infantile hands. These hands shouldn't have to fight such an abomination. And yet, they had. Twice over.

Soon to be thrice over, now that he thought about it.

As soon as the Dead Hand lowered its sunken head, the Hero of Time drove the dagger as deep into its head as it would go. The abomination squealed, spewing crimson blood out of its face as it turned and dug back down into the earth, causing a tidal wave of bones and corpses to hit Link in the face.

"Oh, no you don't!" he roared, reaching into the bones and grabbing the first bit of pale flesh he saw. Unfortunately, this turned out to be one of the Dead Hand's palms, and it seized Link's youthful body the first chance it got. The Dead Hand resurfaced, still oozing blood from the wound he had put in it, and waddled ominously towards Link. It managed to take a shallow bite out of his tanned flesh, exposing muscle but not tearing through it. Now veritably dripping blood from his body, the Hylian drew back the Kokiri Sword and viciously decapitated the Dead Hand. It collapsed to the floor, oozing blood and twitching violently before fading out.

Vaguely, Link heard the door unseal and a chest appear, but he was more focused on the gaping hole in his skin. He tore the bandages on his head off and almost used them to cover the wound, only to see that the cloth was incredibly dirty and unclean, and would probably cause infection.

"Ivan, could you go through my pouch and get me some more bandages?" Link asked.

"Ivan already did," the sprite replied morosely. "You're out. Would you like Ivan to get you a Red Potion?"

"That'd be great," Link croaked, propping himself up against the wall and covering his injury with his hands, struggling not to cry out when any bits of dirt and grime came off of his palms and landed on it. It was better than exposing it to the Bottom of the Well.

Oddly, Link felt his eyes start to become heavy. He assumed it was just delirium and adrenaline, or lack thereof in the latter's case, making all of his fatigue catch up to him. The child couldn't keep himself awake and alert, and eventually succumbed to his tiredness.

He would have used a fairy, but he was fresh out of them.

**!0*0!**

A healed Link propped open the large chest that had appeared in the wake of the Dead Hand's death. A slight smile appeared on his lips. Now that he had the Lens of Truth, he could leave this damned place and never have to see things like this again.

Well, at least until the Shadow Temple.

He was so eager to get out of the Bottom of the Well that he didn't even check what he had grabbed from the chest until he had left the room. He had had it clenched so tightly in his fingers that it actually hurt a little. Gingerly, Link unfolded his hand so that he could see the fruit of his labor.

And stopped.

Because he was holding a Compass.

Link took a breath in, then took a breath out.

"_Fuck!_" he screamed to the moss-covered wall next to him. "_Goddesses fucking damnit!"_

Ivan stole thirty Rupees from his wallet.

"Fine," Link spat. "I'll spend some more time in this stupid _fucking_ horror show. Because you know what a dead horse needs? _More fucking bruises!_"

"Leetle man," Ivan said. "Calm down. This 'Lens of Truth' has to be in here somewhere, da? So we can find it using the Compass and Dungeon Map. It's not the end of the world."

"I… I'm just tired, Ivan," Link confessed. "I'm tired of most everything, and I don't think it's the kind of tiredness that goes away with a good night's sleep. I just want to throw up my hands and call it a life, and eke out an existence in Kakariko. Maybe I'll join the Knights like some of them were suggesting and vent my frustrations on the monsters in Hyrule Field. I'm just tired… tired of being Link."

"Well, Ivan thinks that nobody would be a better Link than you," the fairy said. "Trust Ivan on this. Ivan knows you better than anyone."

The Hylian sighed. "You're right, as usual," he said resignedly. "Let's see. Where are there any chests in this dungeon?"

"There's one all the way down there, on the bottommost level," Ivan reported, pointing at one of the ends of the disturbingly hand-shaped room. "But how would we get down there?"

"We can use one of the holes on this level to fall all the way down," Link said. "There's a door, but it's locked from this side."

"Very well," Ivan relented. "Just… don't break your legs falling down, da?"

"Got it," the Hylian replied, trotting northwards and finding the hole on the leftmost side of the dungeon. It was situated right below a dementedly smiling picture of a ghoul or some other apparition.

Link swan-dived into the hole, straight into the deepest part of the dungeon, landing gracelessly on his face. He spat some dirt out of his mouth and stood up, only to nearly be crushed by a giant boulder that suddenly appeared. Link took a few moments to catch his breath before attempting to go again, only to be cut off by another rolling rock. The Hero of Time tailed the rock until it crashed into a wall, right next to a pool of acrid acid. He hung left, avoiding another rock, and traveled down the thumb of the hand, where the Compass said a chest could be found.

But there was no chest; rather, five Redeads sat hunched over in a cluster right next to where the chest should have been. Swallowing a lump in his throat, the Hylian grabbed his Ocarina and swiftly played the Sun's Song. This caused the Redeads to turn white and freeze up, allowing Link to slaughter them at his own pace.

He assumed and prayed that killing the Redeads would cause the chest to appear. But to his surprise and dismay, nothing happened when the last zombie fell. He hadn't seen any other monsters in the room, so unless they were invisible, he would have to do something else.

"Maybe we missed something in the big room above us? Leetle man does have two small keys that he hasn't used yet," the fairy suggested.

"Aw… but then I have to explore more of this hellhole…" Link whined, feeling himself get ten Rupees lighter. "Ugh, fine…"

He gingerly picked his way around the lake of acid and clambered up a ladder, reaching a sort of halfway point that had another ladder that finished the trek upwards.

"Look!" Ivan suddenly said, pointing back into the lowest room.

"What? What?"

"On that wooden platform!"

The sprite darted away, leaving Link stranded on the plateau.

"Ivan! I can't fly!" he scolded. "Don't leave me like that!"

"Spasiba. But there's a gold switch on this platform! It probably triggers the chest to appear!" Ivan yelled. "There's a hole that leads straight to that big "X" in the top room!"

"Really?" Link said. "Let's go!"

**!0*0!**

It turned out that the hole was sealed with iron bars that Link couldn't penetrate.

"Lovely," he drawled. "More time I have to spend in this place."

"Don't think about it like that," Ivan said comfortingly.

"You're right. Everything is just fine," Link snorted, sarcasm dripping off of his voice.

Ivan rolled his eyes, but said nothing.

He glanced to his right, where behind a rather rusted set of iron bars, there was a locked door. Link prematurely brandished a Small Key walked in that direction, going underneath the iron bars and appearing on the other side.

"Hey, Ivan? What's the difference between a Redead and a Gibdo?" Link asked, absentmindedly jamming the key into the lock. "They always act the same."

"Redeads and Gibdos are functionally identical," Ivan informed. "It is merely that Gibdos are more commonly found in dry environments, whereas Redeads are more commonly found in moist environments."

"Uh huh," Link commented intelligently, stepping through the now unlocked door, facing backwards so that he could face Ivan.

Then he backed into a Redead.

He had thought he had collided with a wall or something until he felt a pair of clothed arms tightly wrap itself around his head. A sharp pain soon followed at the nape of his neck, making the youth cry out in agony. In a bout of strength foreign to his childish form, the Hylian grabbed whatever was biting him and threw it over his head. It collided with the wall with a sickening sound, and Link realized that it was a Gibdo and not a Redead. He then drew a Deku Stick and smashed it into the mummy's face, denting it and ending the Gibdo's existence.

The room was filled with six coffins and a few odd statues, with a Golden Skulltula hiding beneath one of them. The Compass wasn't registering anything, so there couldn't have been anything hiding in the coffins.

"Well, this was worthless," Link grumbled. "Just like this child body. I feel so… vulnerable. I much prefer my adult form."

Ivan didn't comment.

"Where haven't we explored?"

"We haven't been up at the top of this place," Ivan informed, indicating the northeast section of the map.

"But you can see that it leads to this little alcove," Link pointed out, tapping the aforementioned section. "We can see that there's nothing in there from here save two Skullwalltulas."

"Do it for Ivan?" Ivan pleaded.

"Fine," Link groaned, turning around and leaving the room.

He moved up the Temple and took a left, eventually ending up at a miniscule tunnel. Pressing himself into the stone floor allowed the small Hero to crawl inside and drag himself to the other side. There was a locked door and one of those grinning faces there.

"Shoot the face, right?" Link said, already readying his Slingshot.

"Ivan isn't sure… Ivan isn't getting that itch in the back of the brain…"

But Link had already shot the nose of the demented smile. A loud chiming noise followed, and the sealed door became unlocked.

"Ivan stands corrected."

On the other side of the door was a Floormaster. There were also several holes in the floor blocked off with iron bars, for which Link was- for once- grateful.

"Watch for the shadows of Wallmasters. There's at least one in this room," Ivan said.

"I'm not worried," Link replied, running blindly past the Floormaster in the center of the room and unlocking the other door with his last Small Key. This door led him to back into the main room, on the other side of a large set of immovable iron bars.

"I told you there wasn't anything in here. Just two Skullwalltulas," Link complained. "I wasted all of my Small Keys on this."

Ivan said nothing, contemplative. "There's got to be something somewhere in here…" Maybe there's something under one of those piles of compressed ash?"

"Worth a shot," his partner grumbled, procuring his last Bomb and lobbing it at the Skullwalltulas. The ensuing blast not only killed the spiders, but decimated the grime pile, revealing an oddly pristine golden button.

Sighing a breath of relief, Link slammed the golden button down and heard the rusty squeal of iron on iron. The iron bars under the crossbuck must have retracted. Hoping beyond hope that this hypothesis was correct, Link veritably sprinted back to that area and grinned giddily when he realized that he was right.

His stomach chose that moment to make itself known, grumbling angrily at its lack of sustenance. Link paused and pawed through his pouch in an effort to find food, but was legitimately surprised to come up empty-handed. He punched his stomach in a last-ditch effort to shut his gut up, which thankfully wasn't as fruitless as his pack.

With that distraction out of the way, he leapt down the hole, doing a flip in mid-air just because he could. He landed squarely on his feet and instantly compressed the gold button that was also on the wooden structure. He became concerned when nothing seemed to happen. At Ivan's behest, he ran back into the thumb of the room. He joyously found that a large chest had appeared there, and angrily found that the five Redeads had appeared again.

After an encore of the Sun's Song, the Redeads were pacified. This time, instead of slaughtering them, the Hylian opted to ignore all of them and beelined for the chest, throwing it open and revealing the Lens of Truth.

It was purple, and shaped like the Sheikah symbol that she had seen on Zelda's disguise's shirt. That is, it looked like a single crying eye with three separate triangles on top. Through it, Link's sight could pierce all illusions at the cost of magic power.

"Hmm… what could this be? It looks like some sort of lens… Is this the Lens of Truth you mentioned?" Ivan theorized.

"It is indeed," Link confirmed. "It lets you see through illusions. Here, give it a try."

He handed the lens to his fairy companion, but not before he climbed back up to the main floor. The fay could barely lift the comparatively giant lens to his face, but he managed it somehow.

The sprite immediately started dimming in a way Link had never seen before. He immediately dropped the Lens of Truth, nearly breaking it on the cold stone floor. Fortunately, the ground was coated in slick mosses that acted as cushioning.

"Why didn't you tell Ivan the Lens drained magical energy?!" Ivan interrogated. "Don't you know that fairies are _made_ of magical energy? You nearly killed Ivan!"

"In my defense, Navi never had that problem," Link argued. "Or at least, she never mentioned it. Will you be okay?"

"Do fish moo?" the sprite said coldly. "It makes Ivan very, _very_ tired. Ivan will find a place to rest and sleep for a while. Maybe, seven years or so? Anyway, this place is dank and creepy… Let's… get out… of here…"

Ivan fell asleep, perched on Link's shoulder. Link left him there, playing the Nocturne of Shadow on his Ocarina. He could check out a motel room in Kakariko proper for the night and give both himself and Ivan a well-deserved rest. Goddesses knew they deserved it after getting through the Bottom of the Well.

**!0*0!**

All the hotels were stuffed to bursting.

It was a fatal miscalculation on Link's part. He should have known there wouldn't be any room in any of the inns, due to the massive influx of people from Castletown. Well, he could always rely on the little patch of ground under the tree in the front of the village.

Even this spot was taken, though; some old man had set up shop right there, and wasn't keen on sharing. He was running some sort of game with three cups and a pea. Judging by the expressions on the people who played the game, none of them won.

Link sighed before leaving the village and departed into Hyrule Field, which was filled with an oddly high number of monsters, despite being the middle of the day. It wasn't as hot as it had been when Link had last been in this time period, which made sense. It was mid-autumn, after all. It would be winter rather soon.

A few hours of near-aimless wandering later, Link found himself in one of the destroyed villages from before he had first drawn the Master Sword. The corpses that had once been strewn about were gone now, probably devoured by scavengers. The whole place reeked of rot and decay, nauseating Link somewhat. He tore open the first door he found and poked around, too delirious from fatigue to think properly. If Ivan was lucid, he'd probably be scolding the Hylian for breaking and entering, but the fairy was not, in fact, awake. An irrational fragment of Link's shattered mind feared that he was dead. But the fairy was still glowing, albeit rather dimly, so he couldn't be deceased.

Right?

Link searched the house, only to find that the bedroom wasn't completely destroyed. Experimentally, he felt the bed to test its softness, and to his surprise and delight, it was about as hard as the walls of Castletown.

He laid Ivan down on one side of the bed and threw himself on the other side, not even bothering to get under the moth-eaten covers.

For once, sleep came easily to him.

**Don't worry, Ivan didn't just die. I promise.**

**Anyway, that was chapter 15. Fifteen! Perhaps more shocking is that it's currently May 14th and I have an AP test tomorrow that I should **_**probably**_ **be studying for right now!**

**Why do I do this…**

**Anyway, review please!**


	18. Chapter 17: spookier name

**Welp, that AP I mentioned before was way easier than I thought it would be. Now I can work on this more, right?**

**Haha, nope. I got about thirty projects the instant I finished my exams. And that's not even taking my English essay into account.**

**I'm going to be lucky if I have this thing done by Christmas of 2020.**

**Thanks for sticking with me, even though I'm uploading these things after the fact. It's the thought that counts, right?**

**RRRP: **

_ChangelingRin (FF): _Gibdos are the mummy ones, while Redeads are the zombie ones. I've always found it weird that Redeads are in all the wet places, but are also almost nowhere in Majora's Mask, which has a desert area crawling with Gibdos. Thus, my headcanon. Also, I totally get why people wouldn't like BotW [I was today years old when I learned that Bottom of the Well and Breath of the Wild have the same acronym] due to the creepiness factor, but I think MQ version is slightly better because Dead Hand is optional if you know what you're doing.

_ChangelingRin from the Past (FF): _Yeah, I'm counting these as two. It should have been two. What of it?

This Malon's pretty good at being an awesome character. Sooner or later, I'll update the tags of this story to have the pairing be a bit more overt. The decision to do Malink for this fic was planned from the very beginning, as this Link _kind of_ holds this whole second loop against Zelda in the first place. I do believe that he may have had romantic inclinations towards Zelda in the first loop, _maybe_, but given how Malink is canon, and the whole second loop thing… well, you get the idea. Ivan is Ivan, and he's not dead. Link is more stable now than he has been… well, ever in this story. Also, yeah, the Shadow Temple is full of spooks this time around… more so than usual.

_Guest (FF): _Yes, that was intentional! The titles in italics (like the one below) is the one I came up with first, and the other was conceived later, after I reread the story and worked out a few (read: tons of) tonal inconsistencies. The first titles still apply, but I wanted to add the second one to give another sort of inkling into what sort of chapter this was going to be.

_Chapter XVII: Temple of Darkness_

Holy light surged forth from the Pedestal of Time, bathing Link in its energy as it slowly faded away. It felt good to be back in his adult body. His child body limited him, making him weaker and less competent. In his adult form, he was confident. Strong. Less of a man and more of the idea of a man. He felt perfect, even though he knew he wasn't.

Link was well aware of just how flawed he was as a person. He was snarky, argumentative, quick to anger and slow to forgive. He _still _hadn't come close to forgiving his first Zelda for sending him back in time in the first place. He was rash, reckless, and quick to jump to conclusions. He only felt normal on the battlefield, where everything was chaos and only one's skills and wit could save oneself. It had gotten to the point where he could barely stand actually sleeping in a bed, like a normal human being. Idly, he wondered if he would ever change, or if this was how Link was always supposed to be, regardless of age or time. Then he remembered how he hadn't remembered feeling any of these things as an adult in his first quest, and the thoughts subsided.

"Ivan will never forget this sensation," the reawakened fairy commented. "The feeling of suddenly being displaced in time. Do you know what Ivan is saying?"

"Yeah, Ivan, I get it," he replied tiredly, playing the Nocturne of Shadow in order to warp into the Kakariko graveyard. A dazzling display of purple light swept down from the heavens and whisked Link away into the Sheikah village.

He ended up on a raised part of land, behind the Royal Family's Tomb he and Ivan had explored a few months ago. It was raining heavily, just like it always seemed to be here. Frigid water leaked under the bandages protecting his bad eye, chilling Link to the bone. Eventually, he gave up on trying to protect it from the rain, and instead cast it off and chucked it into the graveyard proper. It left his damaged eye exposed to the world, but it didn't matter, in the end.

The pair descended down a set of stairs behind the graveyard. There was a massive amphitheater at the bottom of the stairs, with a tiny dais surrounded by unlit torches.

"These torches… they seem to have been lit about seven years ago…" Ivan commented. "Odd, considering the fact that we jump forwards and backwards in time seven years every time we draw or sheath the Master Sword in its pedestal. Do we have to come back here in the past?"

"No, that's the Spirit Temple's gimmick," Link explained. "At least, it was last time. The first time I went into the Shadow Temple, there was a bottomless pit right at the beginning that I had to Hookshot across. Maybe it will be different this time. Only way to figure out is to do it."

"Ivan supposes… it's just a bit odd, is all."

Link stepped onto the raised platform and cast Din's Fire, lighting all of the torches in unison. This caused a gargantuan stone door to slowly and ominously raise into an opened position. A blast of disgustingly humid air burst out of the Temple as soon as it opened, causing Link and Ivan to shudder. Even still, they forced their leaden feet to carry them into the Shadow Temple itself.

It began as a cramped corridor which instantly triggered Link's latent claustrophobia. He forced himself to move forwards and take a left, coming across a bottomless pit with a Hookshot panel on it.

"Okay, so we've confirmed that I can't, in fact, have come here in the past for whatever reason," Link affirmed. "Let's just forget about it. It's probably not our problem."

He approached a ghoul painting identical to the ones he had seen in the Bottom of the Well.

"The Shadow will yield only to one with the eye of truth passed down through Kakariko Village," Ivan interpreted from the undead whispers echoing through the dungeon. "Ivan assumes that it's the Lens of Truth?"

"Precisely," Link replied, strolling straight through the painting and into the rest of the room.

"Wait, what happened?!" the sprite said, panicked.

"It's fine, Ivan. The painting is just an illusion," Link said. "Just fly through it. I'm fine."

The fairy emerged from the fake painting, shuddering. "Ivan does not like this place already."

"Nobody likes this place," Link said. "It was pretty straightforward last time, though."

"Hush, you. You're going to jinx it," Ivan grumbled.

"Alright, first order of business is to point this massive bird statue at that skull totem right there," the Hylian explained, indicating a pole before jogging over to the statue and laboriously rotating the edifice at the correct skull. On the other side of a bottomless pit, an iron gate in the mouth of some sort of abhorrent serpentine monster opened. But there was no way to access it until Link had received the Hover Boots.

"Ivan doubts you can make that jump," his partner informed.

"I know," Link replied, walking around the bird statue and marching towards another one of the ghost paintings- only to slam right into it.

"Wait, what? This has to be an illusion, right? Unless the layout of this temple isn't just reversed…" Link thought aloud, growing more and more horrified at the implications. Just to confirm that he wasn't crazy, he whipped out the Lens of Truth and peered through it- only to find that there was a weak wall hiding behind it. So the Hero of Time planted an explosive at the foot of the painting and backed away, allowing the ensuing blast to take the wall with it.

Vindicated, Link marched through the illusion, only to find that the door was locked. He'd need a Small Key to get through it, a key he didn't have.

As much as the Hylian wanted to use this as an excuse to leave the Temple, he forced himself to continue on.

**!0*0!**

He was back in the first room, facing the metal head stuck in the wall. Its mouth was wide open and its tongue was lolling out, like it was being choked by something. Two hands flanked the head, chained to the wall by-

Those were torches, weren't they?

"Oh, I'm an idiot," Link grumbled, drawing his Fairy Bow. "Ignis," he whispered, and the arrow went up in flames. He nocked the arrow and carefully aimed it at the leftmost torch, causing it to catch fire. He repeated this process with the rightmost torch, and as soon as both torches were lit, a crystalline structure appeared right in front of the purple tongue, giving Link just enough room to leap across.

Inside of the mouth was a hallway that led downwards, deeper into the Temple. It exited with a small rotunda with a Beamos and three pathways, each blocked by what looked like a pile of compacted bones. Only one of them was real, though, so Link ran straight through the leftmost wall and went through the door.

There were two Gibdos inside, but Link could easily slay both of them with a Spin Attack from the Biggoron Sword. They instantly keeled over and died, dropping Magic Potions as a small chest appeared between two lit torches.

Link sighed. "That's really satisfying."

He opened the small chest and gained a Small Key.

"Oh, perfect! I can go back and explore the rest of the top layer!" Link exclaimed, leaving the tiny room and taking a right, going back up to the top. He leaped across the abyss and then proceeded to barrel straight through one of the face paintings adorning the walls, opening the locked door behind it.

He was immediately greeted by a wall with a light blue skull on it. He knew it was an illusion, so he disregarded it entirely and proceeded to walk through it. Ivan grumbled something about the wall trying to send him a message from the great beyond, but Link ignored his fairy partner for now.

He walked straight through another light blue skull wall, but Ivan Mind Hacked him just to force him to stop.

"Ivan, let me finish this Temple so I don't have to spend any more time here," Link groaned. "This goddess-forsaken place is _why_ I'm claustrophobic."

"Ivan knows this, but this wall is practically screaming 'Here is gathered Hyrule's bloody history of greed and hatred'... Ivan figured you would want to know."

"What kind of greed and hatred are we talking about? The Unification War?" Link inquired, opening the metal door behind the illusory wall.

"It could be. Ivan doubts it, though. The Temples were constructed long before the War fully united the land," the fairy responded, narrowly avoiding a languid strike from one of the four Redeads populating the tiny room.

"Then when were the Temples made?" the Hylian asked, running the Biggoron Sword through the Redeads. Their redeath caused a large chest to suddenly appear. Inside of it was the Compass.

"Ivan is not sure… Ivan believes it was before the Vaati incident, but few records remain from that time period."

He left the room and moved to progress further, only for Ivan to give a short shout.

"There's a Song of Time block beyond that illusory wall. Leetle man was going to run straight into it," the fairy informed helpfully.

"Thanks," Link replied, withdrawing his Ocarina and playing the Song of Time to dispel the barrier. He moved forwards into the next skull-filled room. As soon as he entered, his body was engulfed in flames, courtesy of one of the fake eye switches lined up on the right side of the room. He took a moment to beat the flames off of himself, then backed up behind a pillar to change into the Goron Tunic.

"'Tricks you cannot see… Passages full of ill will… We will consume everything…?'" Ivan translated from the skull emblazoned on the pillar.

The Hylian chose to tune out Ivan, instead opting to load an arrow into the Fairy Bow and jump out from behind the pillar, shooting directly at the closed eye switch. It did nothing, despite landing perfectly on its mark. Then the eye opened, firing another ball of flames, before closing again.

"Ivan thinks you have to shoot the eye when it's open," Ivan suggested as the Hero of Time slapped the orb of fire into oblivion with his Stalfos Shield.

Link didn't respond, simply nocking another arrow and peering from around the corner at the eye switch. It soon opened, releasing a ball of fire, but soon sprouted an arrow directly from its cornea. The process soon repeated itself with the other eye switch.

The central eye switch didn't react to Link, so he ignored it, instead switching to the Lens of Truth to remind himself exactly where he was supposed to go. He was confused, however, when the path to the last room was covered with a crystalline barrier. There must be something else invisible that Link had missed in the room.

He combed the room several times to ensure that he hadn't missed anything. He hadn't. Link then assumed that there was a Diamond Switch hidden behind a wall or something, but that didn't work, either.

"Uh… there's still an eye switch that you haven't shot…" Ivan mentioned.

"But it won't open, so I can't kill it," Link explained.

"Ivan is not sure if it is a monster," he countered. "It might just be a normal eye switch. Try shooting it."

Link shot it, and it immediately opened. Checking the barrier revealed that it had disappeared. Convenient.

He marched through the door- and wished he hadn't.

**!0*0!**

There was another Dead Hand.

Because of course there was.

The eight hands were organized in a circle in the center of the room. Link withdrew the Lens of Truth and noticed a dark circle right in the left corner of the chamber. Doffing the Sheikah artifact revealed that he couldn't see the spot without it. Cautiously, he procured a bomb and placed it over the spot before sprinting away. The explosive detonated, causing a great tidal wave of decaying human material as the body of the Dead Hand emerged from the floor.

"Oh, thank the Goddesses I don't have to-" Link began, before he got too close to the hands in the center of the room and was ensnared by one of them. Fortunately, his lithe adult body was more than capable of forcing the hand off of his face, and cut the offending limb from the earth with the Biggoron Sword. He whirled around to see the Dead Hand's mouth closing in on him, which he barely had enough time to sidestep. The bloodsoaked corpse would have probably managed to get his hat, if he hadn't left it in the Water Temple.

He brought the Biggoron Sword down through the Dead Hand's neck, piercing through it into the earth to pin it there. Then, ignoring the arms that started writhing about madly, he grasped both sides of the abomination's neck and twisted hard, rewarded by a sickening crack as he broke the Dead Hand's neck. It died slowly, twitching and convulsing spastically as it slowly atrophied into the stagnant, wretched air.

The door unsealed, and a large chest appeared behind the Dead Hand's cadaver. Link opened it and procured the winged Hover Boots, which allowed him to walk on thin air for a short period of time for the cost of not having any traction.

"Let's head back," Link suggested. Then they departed, venturing deeper into the Sheikah Temple.

**!0*0!**

A short time later, they had returned to the lower level through the metal snakehead. He detonated the Beamos and picking up the bombs that it left in its wake, before placing one of the explosives at the real barrier directly opposite the pathway upwards. The wall of bones disintegrated to yield a locked door. Link reached into his pouch for a key, before remembering that he had used his only Small Key to get the Hover Boots. Sighing, the Hylian took a detour into the only other room on that floor.

Featured prominently in the room was a swirling pair of statuesque grim reapers, spinning their scythes about the room. The floor was strewn with knee-high logs that served to obstruct the movement of anyone trying to navigate the room. There were also several inlets in the walls, each guarded by a large Skulltula. Observing the room further, there were also a number of Silver Rupees scattered around the area, which would probably fill up Link's giant wallet.

He sprinted forwards, sliding across the slick stone ground to avoid a scythe. He picked up the first Rupee before swinging outwards, leaping over a wooden plank before ducking under another scythe. He had his Longshot at the ready as soon as he sprung up, allowing him to kill a Giant Skulltula without much effort. He darted into the now-revealed crawlspace and retrieved the next Rupees.

Link reentered the greater chamber, careful to stay out of the range of the scythes that was so helpfully engraved onto the floor. He Longshotted up onto a little wooden platform, grabbing the Silver Rupee there, before maneuvering to the other side of the room and killing both Skullwalltula. Behind one of them was a plaque that presided over an illusory floor, but the other contained a Silver Rupee, which Link grabbed.

He then heard an iron grate ascend, and upon further inspection, another divot had opened. There was a Skulltula inside, as well as a large chest which contained the Dungeon Map. But there wasn't anything else inside, not even with a sweep from the Lens of Truth.

"Go back to that painting… Ivan thought there was something there," the fairy suggested.

"How about we don't? The more time before we go to the Other Side, the better," Link explained.

"'Other Side'?! Is leetle man telling Ivan that we must _die_ in this Temple? That sounds like it defeats the entire purpose," Ivan questioned.

"Not like that… There's a Ferry to the Other Side. I'm not kidding, that's what it's called."

"Ivan isn't sure how that's any better… Regardless, there might be a Small Key down there."

Groaning slightly, Link returned to the crawlspace and carefully felt at the floor to determine which part of it was illusion and what wasn't. Finding where the hole really was, Link slowly found his footing in the iron bars below it and climbed down to find… nothing.

"There's nothing here!" Link wailed morosely. "This was a waste of time!"

It was no sooner than he said this that the sounds of a giant Skulltula made themselves known. Link swiftly drew the Lens of Truth and peered through it, finally seeing the skeleton hovering over a giant block with the Gerudo emblem emblazoned on it.

He drew the Longshot and shot it in the face, killing it instantly. But this didn't solve the problem of the fact that the rest of the room was empty. The Skulltula's corpse had dissolved into a small health potion; it must have been digesting one from its last victim, and Link would have partaken in it had he not tripped over something just before he reached it. He toppled gracelessly into his face, a trickle of blood oozing out of his nose. The poultice solved the bleeding issue, but didn't spare him the shame of having stumbled over something.

The Hero of Time prodded at the offending area with his foot, only for it to connect to something invisible. It felt like wood. Another gander through the Lens of Truth revealed that there was an invisible small chest right there that he simply hadn't noticed somehow. He kicked it open, and received the exact Small Key he needed.

He turned to leave, before he realized that Ivan wasn't following him. Link turned to see that Ivan was staring, practically slack-jawed, at the Ferry to the Other Side through the derelict iron bars. Link casually walked up to join him, staring at the ancient boat floating on the mist. The last time he had seen it, the prow was the shape of a metal raven of some kind, but this time, the raven had been replaced by a charred black skeleton with the most ridiculous shade of red hair he had seen- and he was friends with Malon and Anjou. He wondered how they were doing as he literally gawked at a floating boat of death.

"Leetle man never told Ivan you were a death pirate," Ivan mused. "That explains a lot."

"_Death Pirate?_" Link questioned, raising an eyebrow. "The thing on the front of the ship is supposed to be a raven, not some redhead skeleton. Although I do admit that the skeleton is more fitting."

"Yup. Edgy," Ivan quipped, tearing his eyes away from the boat. "Let's finish this dungeon already. This _priton_ gives Ivan the heebie-jeebies."

"If me swearing makes me lose ten Rupees, shouldn't you swearing give me Rupees?" the Hero of Time questioned.

His Guardian Fairy blinked. "Ivan does not make a habit out of it. Leetle man does. That is why."

Link only grumbled in response as he turned on his heel, climbing back up the iron bars into the second-level room. He then left that room, entering the central rotunda, and used his newly acquired Small Key to open the formerly locked door. He entered a hallway that gently sloped downwards, leading Link further into the Shadow Temple's clutches.

Already, he could feel a tempest of dark energy surging from deeper inside of the Temple. He hadn't been able to feel it during his first adventure due to not having his Stalfos Hand, but the other Temples were weak in terms of dark magical output. Bongo Bongo evidently dwarfed Ganondorf's other minions.

He rounded a corner and ran headfirst into a Beamos, which he opted to simply run around. The Hylian jumped over a pair of Spikes bouncing around the hallway and barely managed to roll under a Giant Skulltula that descended from the ceiling.

There was a short, sheer cliff in front of him that he had to jump down, but the remainder of the hallway was guarded by a pair of guillotines that repeatedly rose up and slammed back into the ground again. There was also a Beamos that somehow hadn't noticed him sandwiched between the two guillotines. Link drew the Longshot and aimed for the wooden supports for the second guillotine, latching onto the old wood and yanking him across the gap. From there, it was just a quick sprint until he was out of danger.

He followed the corridor until its end, where it opened up into a massive underground cavern with a seemingly bottomless pit. The Hero wasn't particularly keen on discovering whether or not it was actually bottomless. So instead, he surveyed the room itself, searching for anything that would help him finish the Shadow Temple faster. There was a gold eye switch to his right, in the wall on the other side of the abyss, but shooting it with the Fairy Bow didn't seem to activate it. There was probably something invisible blocking it, Link reasoned as he traversed the precariously thin strip of floor that spanned the room. All along it were several guillotines, three of them to be exact, slamming themselves into the earth at erratic and unpredictable intervals. Once again, Link readied his Longshot and was wrenched to the last guillotine. He was immediately beset by a Fire Bubble that leapt out of the void below him, but Link merely whacked it with his shield back into the darkness.

There was a platform in front of him, but there were two Beamos on top of it surveying the area. If he tried to leap for the platform, he'd just be shot right off by the lasers that the robots shot. Fortunately, there was also a Bomb Flower right between them; shooting the flora caused an explosion that forced their eyes shut.

Link timed his jump to just after the guillotine fell, and successfully made it to the other side. However, a swarm of Keese from his left caught him unawares and nearly swept him off into the abyss. He probably would have been thrown into the dark depths had he not had the presence of mind to don his Iron Boots.

He would have seen them in the first place if he wasn't missing his left eye.

The Beamos had reactivated and were both staring at Link, blinking to ready their lasers. Link summoned his Stalfos Shield, hoping to fend off the blows, but the beams hit with enough force to shatter the Shield altogether.

They were readying another blast. The Hero wouldn't be able to defend himself, and the knockback from the beams would push him off the platform into the darkness.

Then one of them stopped, eyes glowing dark blue. It swiftly turned around and blasted a laser at its companion, causing it to explode. The blast also caught the Mind Hacked Beamos, destroying it.

"I thought you said you couldn't Mind Hack things that don't have a brain," Link said.

"They're robots, leetle man," Ivan explained. "They have minds, just not ones made of flesh."

"... Alright, then," the Hylian replied, dropping the subject.

Link then turned to his right, realizing that the gaping hole to his left was too large for him to jump across. Granted, so was the pit to his right, but Link knew from experience that there were invisible platforms there. Explaining the situation to his guardian fairy so he wouldn't have a heart attack, Link swandived off of the platform and grappled for thin air, eventually finding solid ground where there should have been none. He also realized that the golden eye switch from earlier was simply covered in ice. "_Ignis_," he whispered to the tip of one of his arrows, causing it to burst into flames. He then shot the fire arrow at the frozen switch, melting the ice and causing it to close. Link wasn't quite sure what it did, but he'd surely find out later.

He leapt across another chasm and into a tiny alcove, in which there was a single door. The teenager stepped through the rusted iron entrance and rounded a corner, only to be greeted by a completely empty room. All that was in it was an iron gate, a multitude of Silver Rupees, and a Like Like. However, a quick peek through the Lens of Truth revealed that there was another pair of spinning Grim Reapers, scythes tracing the perfect circle embedded in the floor.

He nocked a Fire Arrow and shot the Like Like from across the room, making the undulating gray cylinder of pain and suffering burst into flames and melt. From there, all Link had to do was run around the room like a headless cucco and grab every sliver of silver he could find.

But nothing happened.

After darting out of the range of the scythes, Link discovered that the last Silver Rupee was floating in the air, out of reach. Ivan declined to just grab it, citing tiredness as his justification, but mentioned that Link could just summon a Song of Time block and then nab the currency that way.

Six notes emanated into the cold, dank Temple, willing a Block of Time into existence right underneath the Silver Rupee. Link pondered it for a moment. A song so personally tied to his personal grief fit the Shadow Temple to a T. Refusing to continue thinking about his own failures, Link grabbed the last Rupee, causing the iron gate at the other end of the room to open. There were two chests in the room, according to the Compass, but one of them was invisible. The visible chest contained a Blue Rupee, which Link threw to the wayside because his wallet was once again stuffed. The other chest contained a Small Key, which the Hylian would probably need to descend further into the Temple.

**!0*0!**

The eye switch from before turned out to not be completely useless, as it had apparently summoned several suspended crystal platforms on the left side that Link could jump across. He ended up on a lower platform, which housed two Spikes and a Beamos, along with a good number of Silver Rupees. Link ignored the Rupee puzzle and proceeded towards an iron gate, which blocked off a room from the remainder of the house of the dead. There was a diamond switch right behind it, which Link could trigger just by poking it with the Biggoron Sword. This caused the steel bars to raise up, allowing Link access.

He followed the corridor to its end, which was a smaller room with two giant spiked apparatuses slamming themselves down on an engraved stone pathway. There was no way Link could possibly get past it without finding something to sandwich between the spikes and the ground.

Fortunately, there was such a thing. Right next to the beginning of the path was a massive stone block, hidden from view by an illusory wall. He beelined for the false wall and grasped it with both hands, intending to pull it out of the wall and use it as a stone umbrella to protect him from the hail of metal spikes. However, he came across a rather problematic predicament.

He couldn't actually move the block of stone.

It was his Stalfos hand, of course. If it could barely lift something as light as a Deku Shield, it certainly wasn't going to help Link lug around massive stone blocks. The blocks in the Forest, Fire, and Water Temples were significantly lighter, probably due to the fact that they weren't weighted with the undying torment of the thousands of people who had died here, and Link had had the added benefit of being able to throw his entire weight at the blocks to push them, rather than pull them around.

"Well, I'm f… screwed, aren't I?" Link questioned sarcastically. Ivan applauded with significantly less sardonicism.

"Now, Ivan isn't exactly justifying the abuse of dark magic, but… maybe you can use those falling spikes to Backapparate over there, and then hop on top of it to get to the upper area?" the fairy suggested.

Link blinked. "That's going to _hurt_, Ivan. A _lot._ It probably would have killed me last time I did this Temple, and everything hurts twice as much now."

"Ivan knows. Consider it a last resort. Besides, Backapparating reduces the harm dealt to you, da?"

"Not that much," Link confessed. "There's got to be a way to, like, rappel on top of this thing…"

The Hylian eyed a ribbed pillar in the center of the room. "Hello there," he said, ducking beneath the spikes and grasping the pillar. Just as he suspected, it was ribbed to such a degree that it provided perfect footholds to climb up. From there, it was merely a matter of Longshotting to a chest on the other side of the room. It contained bombs, something Link actually needed.

He then stepped on a conspicuous gold button, causing another small chest to drop from the ceiling. Opening it revealed that it contained another Small Key, which was precisely what he needed.

He returned to the great abyss room and blew up the Beamos with one of his Bombs. He collected all of the Silver Rupees scattered about the small platform, making sure to avoid the Spikes spiraling around. Collecting the last Rupee caused another small chest to fall from somewhere, but it only contained a large bundle of arrows.

There was only one place left to go- across a vast expanse of nothingness blocked by a guillotine. The sign next to the guillotine stated that only those with sacred feet, the Hover Boots, could cross the gap. Donning the aforementioned boots and nearly sliding straight off of the platform, Link dashed underneath the guillotine and soon found himself standing on solid ground again. Obviously, there was an illusory platform below his feet. The Hero of Time glanced through the Lens of Truth to find the other platform, only to realize that it was oscillating back and forth in front of the inlet where a locked door sat. Link stepped onto the moving platform when it was touching the one he was already standing on, then he waited for the floor stopped moving on the other side. From there, he was able to sprint off of the moving platform towards the alcove, a disc of light appearing under his feet as he traversed the abyss. The Hover Boots only lasted a short time before dissipating, but it was enough to get Link across the chasm.

He unlocked the door and stepped through. It was filled with Silver Rupees, collecting which would probably unlock a door to his left that was currently sealed. Link wondered if he actually needed to enter that room, and after consulting the Compass, he realized that there wasn't anything useful inside and disregarded it entirely, Longshotting onto an invisible panel on the ceiling and unlocking the other door in front of him.

Link then found himself in a long, twisting corridor. He hadn't realized that he was still wearing the Hover Boots until he rounded the corner and was promptly slammed along the opposite wall by a fierce gale. The strong winds were coming from a particularly annoying metal gremling head with a fan in it. Sighing to himself, Link acquired the Iron Boots and doggedly dragged himself down the hallway, sure to avoid the Spikes bouncing back and forth. The winds buffeted him, but due to his increased weight, they couldn't do anything to him. After punching a Giant Skulltula in the eyeball so hard that it died, the time traveller Longshotted across a long gap and dropped himself down a sheer cliffside. He was now on a long, thin catwalk buffeted by more devil turbines on both sides. Fortunately, there wasn't a fake eye switch on the far side of the room, raining fireballs down on him from above.

He tore open the door at the end of the catwalk, and immediately slammed it closed again when he realized that there were four Redeads congregated in a semicircle directly around the entrance. Worse, the Compass confirmed that there was a chest in there...

"Well, cra… crud," Link grimaced. "How do I not get my face eaten off here?"

For some reason, his mind flitted to his first Zelda, and a wave of confused negativity washed over him.

"Redeads are very perceptive to sounds and vibrations, but have lackluster eyesight," Ivan explained. "Try opening the door very slowly and playing the Sun's Song."

Link did as Ivan suggested, then unleashed a fully powered Spin Attack after the zombies had been stunned. A golden Fairy conveniently appeared, which Link touched, causing it to shrink up and swirl away out of sight. There was also a Golden Skulltula in the room, which Link killed.

There was no chest, but consulting the Lens of Truth revealed that it was one, merely hidden by an illusion. Kicking it open caused its invisibility to disperse, revealing that the chest held a Small Key.

They left the room again. The winds had stopped temporarily, but would soon begin again.

"Well, what do we do now?" Ivan wondered. "Maybe we should go back down that hall. There was a Silver Rupee puzzle that we completely ignored.

"Nah," Link vetoed, already summoning the Hover Boots. "Just trust me."

"Okay… Wait, what are you doing?"

Link had stepped into the path of one of the massive fans and was instantly carried with it off of the catwalk. However, the wall on the other side of the vast abyss was an illusion, and Link was just fine.

In retrospect, he probably should have told Ivan.

"What were you thinking?!" the guardian fairy demanded. "You gave Ivan a heart attack!"

"I'm sorry…?" Link replied hesitantly.

Ivan took a deep breath. "It's fine, leetle man. Just don't do that again. Ivan still isn't really used to having a partner. How long has it been, anyway? Three months? Four?"

"Five months and four days," Link corrected. "Not including the seven year gap."

"Whatever. Point is, don't scare Ivan like that. Khorosho?"

"Yes, Ivan," Link grumbled, ashamed. He then unlocked the door behind the illusory wall, and proceeded deeper into the Temple.

**!0*0!**

When Link thought about it, he was kind of a pushover.

Not when on the battlefield, no; a Link with his sword drawn was a Link that refused to pull any punches. The dead Gibdos at his feet were proof enough of that. But that was what made Link such a pushover to begin with. When he wasn't decapitating something, he always overcompensated for his innate connection to violence, allowing a more passive side of himself to take control. He would ceaselessly concede his own opinion when talking to people because he was never confident that the side of him that lived for combat wouldn't come out and crush whoever he was talking to.

People were like roses; squeeze them too hard, and they'll be destroyed, but you'll have a few thorns in your hands, too.

Link doubted anything exemplified this any better than his concession in his final conversation with Zelda. He had tried to tell her that he didn't want to go back, only to realize that she was having none of it. And like the pushover that he could be, he rolled over and accepted it, lulled by her promise that she and the rest of the Sages would remember everything.

They hadn't.

He could still blame her, though, for not listening to him. He had expressed his worries that everyone would forget everything, and she had practically laughed him off. He had every right to be mad about that.

He kicked open the newfound Small Chest for a useless Blue Rupee, but before leaving the dank room with walls made out of rotting flesh, the swordsman made sure to bomb both piles of ash in the corners of the room, garnering him a Gold Skulltula and an invisible chest full of Arrows. Done in the cramped room, Link used his last Small Key to unlock the door, finding himself facing the Ferry to the Other Side: Pirate Edition.

There was half of a ladder descending from a raised stone area, way out of Link's reach. Meanwhile, there was a smaller stone block situated just below the little jail cell he and Ivan had been in hours before, gawking at the massive ship floating in the mist. He turned to the stone block, hoping to push it below the ladder so that he could climb up, but the swordsman came across a problem.

He couldn't actually move the stone block.

It was embarrassing. He supposed it must have been weighed down with the souls of the damned, because this particular block felt somehow heavier than the other stone cube in the Shadow Temple.

He blamed his undead hand.

"Maybe you could Hookshot onto the boat itself?" Ivan suggested, thoroughly understanding Link's predicament.

"It's not made of latchable wood," the Hylian explained. "See?"

He moved the Longshot to point at the side of the ship before stopping, laser reticle pointing at the ladder itself. He had had no idea that he could Longshot onto the ladder. He most certainly wasn't complaining, though.

He activated the device, throwing him at the ladder. He only barely managed to grab onto the last rung of the ladder, not really thinking to account for gravity when he launched himself. Regardless, even with the critical weakness in his Stalfos hand, the Hylian was able to haul himself on top of the stone parapet. From there, it was a simple jump from the stone to the ship.

It had a Triforce engraved on it, prompting the Hero of Time to dutifully pull out his Ocarina and mournfully play Zelda's Lullaby, longing spiking in his chest as his brain mindlessly focused on the people in his first adventure. He loved them, he supposed, but their replacements were just as good. Better, even; they had all of the quirks and traits they did from his first excursion, but they seemed to know him better than they had before, and vice versa. The only exception to that was Ivan, who was… well, Ivan.

Link was shaken from his reverie by the echoing sounds of bells, which seemed completely foreign to the vast expanse of derelict rot and decay that seemed to pervade the Shadow Temple. The Ferry suddenly lurched under his feet, sinking into the mist before soaring back up again, actually succeeding in throwing Link into the air and making him faceplant into the Triforce of Courage. And just to make his day even worse, as soon as he managed to get to his feet, a Stalfos dropped down onto the boat.

Then another, because fighting one Stalfos on a constantly undulating platform was just too easy. Link readied the Biggoron Sword, but had to leap back when a massive chained hairball descended from the rocks above Link and crushed both skeletal swordsmen underneath its massive weight. As it shifted and scuttled about the deck of the ship, it left a revolting trail of blood and pus in its wake. Its abundance of eyes swiveled about madly in their disgusting sockets, locking onto Link in a heartbeat.

"Okay, Ivan, you're the history buff. This is the Miqau, right?"

"Maoqiu," Ivan corrected.

"Whatever, how do we kill it?" Link said, diving out of the way as the ancient abomination suddenly charged at him. Its multiple eyes were all narrowed into slits so thin that no arrow could possibly hit the eyes lurking beneath. Deku Nuts proved to be ineffective, as was Din's Fire.

"You have to disorient it! Its eyes will open as it tried to reorient itself," Ivan suggested. "See if you can flip it over or something!"

"Flip it over?! Ivan, that thing has to weigh more than three times as much as I do!" Link argued, nearly being incinerated by a sudden laser blast the Maoqiu unleashed from one of its infinite eyes.

The ship lurched again, throwing both Link and the horrendous living hairball up into the air. The resulting change in acceleration caused Link and the Maoqiu to collide with each other midair. The Hylian had to grab onto one of the Maoqiu's chains in order to prevent himself from flying off of the boat into the void, even activating the Iron Boots as an extra precaution.

"Ha!" Ivan laughed suddenly, darting over to the other side of the demon while glowing crimson. "Pulling on the chains causes the eye on the other side to open! Otlichno!"

All of the Maoqiu's uncountable eyeballs suddenly snapped open, glowing an eerie dark blue. Link tried to whack it with the Biggoron Sword, only to learn that it was still protected by a filmy substance that repelled his blade. He tried using the Master Sword, only to have the same lack of effect.

Sighing, Link took the opportunity to shove the Maoqiu onto its back, revealing that its underbelly hid a massive tunnel to its interior systems complete with writhing tendrils of darkness that tried to suck Link in. As soon as he saw it, though, it disappeared and was replaced with the chains and eyeballs that marked the Maoqiu's upper half.

Ivan was forcefully expelled from its brain and landed on the cold, wet deck with a shout of mixed pain and anger. The Hylian temporarily ignored him, instead opting to saw off one of the rusted iron chains that encircled the giant hairball. It came apart with surprising ease, but it caused the eldritch abomination to squeal in agony as it leaked more blood all over the deck of the Ferry. The Ferry itself started shaking violently, a sensation that Link remembered all too well from the last time he had ridden this Goddess-forsaken boat.

"Leetle man, this ship is sinking! Leave the Maoqiu! Get to solid ground!" Ivan warned. Evidently, the Maoqiu realized this too, and it randomly started pushing Link backwards. The Hylian realized too late how little of the boat was left for him to stand on in that direction, and both Hero and demon sailed off of the ship, into the void.

Link flew straight through the coarse stone wall and into a small alcove; evidently, there had been an illusory wall there he had had no knowledge of. Slowly, he came to the realization that he wasn't dead. The Maoqiu was nowhere to be seen, obviously having been less fortunate.

"Chert poberi, what has Ivan done?!" he heard Ivan's voice emanate through the illusive wall that separated him and his fairy. "Link… O Bogini, Link… Ivan is sorry he couldn't have been a better partner…"

"Ugh…" Link groaned, pawing at the hot, sticky place at the back of his head. He drew his hand back to realize that it was covered in blood, presumably his own. Given that there wasn't anything else in the room that had the capacity to bleed, he logically assumed that it was, in fact, his blood staining the base of his neck.

The Hylian greedily freed his last Healing Fairy from one of his bottles, allowing it to fully heal all of his wounds. Oddly enough, it seemed to be accompanied by a tiny scream, but Link assumed that it was just the Shadow Temple messing with him.

As he felt the wound at the base of his cranium close, he dared to call out through the illusory wall. "Ivan?" he inquired once. Then again. He checked the Lens of Truth to ensure that the little sprite hadn't flown away. He hadn't. Stowing away the illusion detecting glass, Link peeked his head out of the illusion and waved at Ivan's miniscule form, perched precariously on the edge of the stone catwalk on the other side of the misty abyss.

"Ivan, I'm not dead! This part of the wall is an illusion!" Link hollered, waving madly at his partner. From Ivan's perspective, it must have looked like Link's disembodied head was casually hovering at the other side of the room.

The fairy looked up and stared for a while before slowly fluttering across the void. It was obvious that he didn't quite trust Link, given how the Shadow Temple seemed far too fascinated with screwing with people's perceptions of reality.

Ivan was muttering something to himself, but was unprepared for when Link's physical hand reached out of the illusion, snatched the fairy in one palm, and dragged him through the faux wall. He stared incomprehensibly for a few seconds before starting to laugh in earnest.

"Leetle man, you have to be the luckiest person Ivan has ever met," Ivan managed to get out between raucous guffaws.

"Yeah, in all the things in which not being lucky would result in death," Link replied, turning to the rest of the alcove. It was black as pitch, and the Hero of Time couldn't see his hand just a few inches from his face. He nocked a Fire Arrow into his bow but didn't loose it, using its light to illuminate the darkness.

"What is this place?" Ivan wondered.

"I don't know, I just discovered this now. Like, it's not even on the Dungeon Map."

The pair slowly and carefully made their way through the cramped, dank corridor. It reeked of death and decay, causing Link to sneeze several times on his sojourn. After what seemed to be years of carefully creeping down the hallway, it finally opened into a comparatively small chamber. Link used his arrow to light a torch on the wall, shedding light on the room and revealing its true nature.

Link was creeped out. Ivan was flabbergasted.

There was a marble humanoid statue in the center of the room with no face. It held a hand up to its stone head like it was wearing some sort of mask, but no veneer was actually present. It had an elaborate-looking red cloak on it, bespeckled with gold and black diamonds. All around it, little strings were connected between the statue and various parts of the floor, each covered with several small strips of paper with indecipherable characters on it.

"Ivan… what am I looking at?" Link whispered. "Even I can feel the dark magic spewing from this statue."

"There should be so much more," Ivan whispered. "Where is it all?"

"What?" Link ejaculated, shocked. "This place is almost as dark as Ganondorf was last timeline!"

"Remember that demon Ivan mentioned before you drew the Master Sword? Demise?"

"Yeah," Link said, shivers crawling along his back.

"Well, Demise possessed a blade that had a sword spirit in it, much like the Master Sword does. After the Demon King's defeat at the hands of the first Link, his sword spirit attempted to revive his master. Fortunately, the sword spirit was apprehended and sealed.

"That statue is a near perfect match for what historical documents say it looked like- excluding the fact that this statue has no face. Therefore, it is only logical to assume that this is the site where the sword spirit was sealed. Yes, it makes sense! This is why the Shadow Temple is so consumed by dark energy! This is why the Sheikah put their village at the foot of an active volcano! Because it was right next to the internment site of one of the most powerful dark magic artifacts in Hyrulean history!"

Maybe it has to do with these things?" Link mentioned, pointing at the various strings tying the statue to the earth.

"Hm… Strange. These are ancient wards to protect against evil spirits… yes. Perhaps these are the reason why we feel so little dark energy. At least, Ivan hopes."

"We ought to leave it as is," Link suggested. "Kakariko has enough problems without an ancient demon lord wreaking havoc."

He turned to leave, narrowly avoiding tripping over a ward that appeared cut on his way back out of the chamber.

**!0*0!**

Conveniently, there had been an invisible Hookshot Panel right at the precipice of the abyss, as if to ensure that someone could leave if they happened to somehow stumble across the Hidden Chamber. But now Link had discovered another issue; he was stuck on this tiny catwalk with a locked door at the end. Fortunately, he already knew what to do. He nocked an arrow, mentally kicked himself for accidentally making it a Fire Arrow, and loosed it at an outgrowth of Bomb Flowers that laid beneath a giant raven statue akin to what was once the prow of the Ferry to the Other Side. The already weak supports of the edifice gave way, and the statue face planted beak first just inches from Link's feet. The back of the statue would serve as a bridge across the great gap blocking Link from moving forwards.

Unfortunately, he lacked the Boss Key to actually get to Bongo Bongo's drum set, meaning that he might as well not go for the unlocked door that sat there.

"Hey Link, there's a gold button all the way up there," Ivan mentioned, gesticulating towards a tiny ledge overlooking the abyss.

"Can't exactly get there, Ivan," Link replied, climbing up a Block of Time and then using it as a stepping stone to get on top of the remains of another raven statue.

"Maybe play the Song of Time… that's the only thing Ivan can think of," the fairy suggested.

He played the Song of Time as requested, hoping that the block would teleport to a spot where he could use it as an in-between to get to the ledge. Unfortunately, the Block decided to teleport out of the room entirely, which didn't exactly help the Hero with his problem.

"Well, now what?" Link asked sardonically. When Ivan didn't respond, the swordsman followed up with "Ivan?"

"Do you remember that eye switch in the Forest Temple? The one that you spent more than two-thirds of a day trying to find?"

"Yeah…" Link answered, unsure of himself.

"Well, Ivan doesn't want to repeat that. Just turn around."

Link whirled on his foot, and there was an eye switch right on the side of the decapitated raven statue. It had been hidden by the Block of Time so well that Link somehow hadn't noticed. Shooting it caused a pair of Hookshot pillars to appear right next to Link and on top of the stone awning fifty feet up. The Hylian Longshot to the pillar and stepped on the golden button right next to it, causing the door on the other side of the smaller abyss to creak open.

"Well, that wasn't so bad," Link remarked. "Thanks for your help, Ivan."

"Don't mention it…" Ivan replied, a bit slower than usual.

"Is something the matter?" the man replied, concerned.

"Nonsense! Everything is fine! Ivan, uh… just doesn't want you to jinx it. Da, that's it."

"Okay…" Link said, noting his partner's odd behavior as he crossed the fallen raven statue to the other side.

Behind the door was a large room filled with pillars, two Blue Bubbles, and a Like Like at the center. One of the doors was locked, and it happened to be the one with two chests behind it. It probably was the one with the Boss Key, meaning that one of the other two rooms connected to this one had to contain a Small Key.

"Okay, so… eenie, meenie, minie, mo…" Link proceeded to say, alternating between pointing at the door furthest from him and the one closest to his right. His finger eventually landed on the rightmost door, and he maneuvered through the illusory maze. All the while, he was constantly donning and doffing the Lens of Truth as a way to cheat its magical drain.

The door opened and then slammed shut again. Link was greeted by a room full of Bomb Flowers and a wooden crossbuck, but beyond that, the room was empty. But having been trained by the Shadow Temple, Link knew to gaze through the Lens of Truth when all seemed hopeless. Unfortunately, he was only greeted by a rather large circle on the ground, which he instantly recognized, with some level of horror, as the hiding place of a Dead Hand. At least there weren't infinite hands to latch onto his head.

He plucked a Bomb Arrow from its place and gently set it over the dark spot before darting away. But it was only when he reached a large distance from the lit explosive did the Hylian see a problem.

The room was filled with Bomb Flowers. And he had just set one off.

The explosive plant burst, causing the flowers around it to explode, which in turn caused more explosions. A chain reaction of fiery conflagrations swept the room, eventually reaching Link himself. Pain flared through his body as the Bomb Flowers all around him detonated, but he wasn't harmed all that badly due to his panicked usage of the Stalfos Shield. The shield itself had quickly exploded, but he wasn't dead, and that's what mattered.

The same could not be said of the Dead Hand, however, who had been situated at the epicenter of the fulmination. The blasts had been so powerful that the bloody corpse had literally come apart at the seams, spraying blood and body parts everywhere. The head of the beast had collided directly with Link's torso, which only served to distract him from the pancreas that promptly hit him in the face. Looking down at himself, the Hero of Time noticed that he was absolutely soaked in demonic blood, a problem compounded by the fact that he was still wearing the Zora Tunic, which absorbed almost all of the liquid it came across.

Link wouldn't have noticed the chest that appeared after the Dead Hand's defeat had Ivan not pointed it out. Inside of the container was a bundle of arrows, but they seemed to draw in the light around them and never let it go, giving it a dark appearance.

"Void Arrows," Ivan commented. "Ivan never thought he'd see one, much less a whole bundle."

"What do they do?"

"Basically, these arrows are extremely powerful. Once they hit their victims, they'll be infected by Void energy itself, and will be significantly weaker for a sizable period of time afterwards. The danger of the Void Arrows is compounded by its own power, nearly thrice that of an unenchanted Arrow. However, they'll drain leetle man's Dark Magic on use, and you only have… uh, four of them."

"I'm going to have fun with these," Link exclaimed, an evil grin forming on his face. "Just not with Bongo Bongo. Void Arrows probably won't do much against a foe that is so deeply rooted in Dark Magic, not to mention already dead.

"Now, where is that Small Key?"

**!0*0!**

It turned out to be tucked behind a skull carousel in the room straight from the catwalk. Because it wasn't in a chest, it didn't register in the Compass.

The last room connected to the invisible labyrinth contained two spiked wooden walls slowly and dramatically closing in on Link the instant he got there. Just to get some adrenaline flowing for the battle against Bongo Bongo, the Hero of Time took his sweet time killing the Keese scattered about the room, played the Sun's Song to stun the two Redeads on either side of the room, and waited until both spikes were practically touching him to cast Din's Fire, immolating both dry mobile walls in a heartbeat. The flaming sphere also happened to take out the other two Redeads, allowing Link to stroll out of the room with the Boss Key and a Red Rupee under his proverbial belt.

He exited the maze of illusions and traversed the raven statue to the other side of the chasm. He eased open the final door and was met by a massive abyss to the Shadow Realm separating him from the Boss Door. There was no visible way to get across the massive gap, but the floating Golden Skulltula on the other side gave Link some ideas. The Lens of Truth revealed that the structure of this final room was almost identical to the last time he had crossed this void; it was secretly populated with thin stone strips stretching up from the darkness below. Link strapped on the Hover Boots and made it to the other side as quickly and efficiently as possible before unlocking the Boss Door and stepping through.

It was at that moment that Link remembered that he had used all of his Dark Magic to protect himself from a bunch of explosive watermelons. He probably should have bought a Hylian Shield when he was in Kakariko. Then again, he'd probably be fine. Right?

Right?

The room Link found himself in was empty, but it contained an enormous gaping hole in the floor, surrounded by those ghoul paintings that were scattered all over the Shadow Temple. There was nowhere to go but down, and Link unhappily backflipped into the dark depths.

Light was seemingly absent in the great cavern Link now found himself in. Suddenly, the space before him manifested into a cream-colored wall, which stretched slightly as Link collided with it. It threw him into the air a few feet as it reverberated with a resounding boom. The Hylian managed to get his feet under him by the time he landed again. But even with his bearings restored, the room was completely devoid of illumination. In fact, the only source of light appeared to be the acidic lake below the giant bongo drum.

The fabric beneath him convulsed again, throwing Link into the air. Oddly, he didn't see either of Bongo Bongo's hands slamming on the drums. He spun as quickly as he could and was greeted by the abomination's glowing red eye smack dab in its neck. It had no head and it hung from the ceiling in a seemingly uncomfortable position. It had stumps for arms, but Link very well knew that its hands were merely disconnected from its body. Speaking of its hands, there were nowhere to be seen, despite the beat of the drums only increasing over time. A quick peek through the Lens of Truth revealed that they were invisible, unlike how they were the first time he fought the phantom shadow beast.

The beat of the drums reached a feverish tempo as Bongo Bongo's body, like its hands, dissolved into the void. Wearing the Lens of Truth made it visible, at the cost of magical energy. However, peering through it while loading an arrow was extremely difficult given the fact that Link only had two working arms and one working eye.

"Ivan! Can you hold the Lens of Truth up to my eye?" Link asked.

"Da!" the fairy replied, procuring the magical item and affixing it in front of Link's right orb. This sudden ability to see Bongo Bongo's hands gave Link the perfect opportunity to see the oversized backhand slap careening towards him. He tried to Backapparate, given that he couldn't make it away from the attack in time, but because he was out of dark magic, he was forced to take the attack head on.

Link finally managed to land an arrow on one of Bongo Bongo's paws, but wasn't able to subdue the other before it curled up into a fist and flew at Link's face. He rolled out of the way, and somehow managed to hit Bongo Bongo's other hand from the awkward position along the tarp of the drum. Writhing in pain, both hands backed off and flew into the void, the ghost's crimson eyeball snapping open as it prepared to fly across the stage. It made a noise like a lit explosive as it tore along. However, Link was able to simply shoot the tumorous eyeball with another arrow, causing Bongo Bongo to snap back into reality in pseudo-paralysis. He asked Ivan to take the Lens of Truth off of his face, in an effort to conserve magic, before drawing the Biggoron Sword and repeatedly driving it into the beast's eyeball.

Bongo Bongo quickly recovered from its stunned state, however, and resumed beating its invisible palms on the drums again, throwing Link up into the air every fourth hit. This constantly forced Link to reset nocking an arrow into his bow, because he needed to use his arms to ensure that he didn't fall flat on his face. This allowed the ghoul to unleash an attack of its own, spreading both of its hands in an effort to snatch Link into its grasp and squeeze the life out of him. It spewed a metallic laugh, as if taunting Link.

It missed Link, but grabbed Ivan in his stead.

The Lens of Truth fell from his grasp, clattering onto the floor. Without the Lens, Link couldn't hope to accurately aim with his Bow and Arrow, which made him effectively blind.

At least his partner served as a sort of beacon for one of the hands. Ivan's tiny light shone in the darkness like the sun on an overcast day, but as for the whereabouts of the other hand, Link had no clue. The hand was evidently squeezing, given Ivan's protests and occasional grunt of pain. Rage boiled in Link's veins as he darted forwards and cast Din's Fire right next to Ivan, managing to hit both hands with its fiery wrath. Once again, both hands darted off into the darkness, dropping Ivan in the process.

Momentarily forgetting about the giant zombie drummer currently intent on ripping his face off, Link scooped up Ivan's body and gently placed him in his pouch. He could drop by a Fairy Fountain somewhere and give him time to rest up before the Spirit Temple. They both probably needed a break, honestly.

Their current situation looked nothing like a break, however, as the shadow proceeded to slam Link all the way across the bongo drum into the pool of acid below. Longshotting back onto the platform, Link spent a solid five minutes loosely encasing the handle of the Lens of Truth in bandages before putting it on his face, allowing him to see through the eye of truth even without Ivan's assistance.

Shooting the hands again was a relative breeze, as was its bulbous eyeball. From there, all he really had to do was ram the Biggoron Sword through its eye before the beast started writhing about on the stage, hands slamming rapidly into the bongo drums before starting to slow down, melting away in a sea of blue flames that then disintegrated.

"Urgh… What happened? Did we win?" Ivan groaned from within Link's pouch.

"Yeah, Bongo Bongo's dead," Link supplied. "What do you say we take a break after this?"

Ivan chuckled weakly. "Never thought… leetle man would ask…"

They warped away, whisked into the Sacred Realm from deep within the darkness.

**!0*0!**

"The man with the noble Zelda's ocarina… as I expected, you have come," Impa said. "I would introduce myself, but I suspect you already know me as Impa of the Sheikah, Princess Zelda's caretaker, and the Sage who guards the Shadow Temple."

"More like the Sadistic Temple," Link grumbled.

"On that day seven years ago, Ganondorf suddenly attacked… and Hyrule surrendered after a short time. His target was one of the keys to the Sacred Realm… the hidden treasure of the Royal Family…"

"The Ocarina of Time, I know," Link said. "You took Zelda out of reach, she gave it to me, I betrayed the plan to prevent more bloodshed. I know, I was there."

"Yes, but there has been a gap of seven years," Impa reiterated. "Back then, you were just a lad… a mature lad, to be sure, but a lad nonetheless. Now, you have the body of one fitting that maturity. You've come to terms with something, haven't you? I can see it in the glint in your eye. Is it that you are the Hero? That you were outwitted by Ganondorf, just like everyone else? I cannot say. But whatever it is, I need only to look at you to know that it has saved you.

"You will meet with the Princess soon enough, and she will explain everything… it is then that we Sages will seal the Demon King and return peace to Hyrule. I must linger here… you must go to Princess Zelda and protect her on my behalf. Now, I shall put my power…"

"Hang on, before we do that, can I ask you something? It's about something I saw in the Shadow Temple… who was that marble statue of? Behind the illusory wall at the end of the Ferry to the Other Side?"

Impa stiffened. "The _what_?"

"The statue. It was covered with these strings with a bunch of little paper strips with some insignias on them that I didn't recognize.

The Sheikah sighed. "That is Ghirahim, the sword spirit of Demise. Shortly after the Demon King's defeat, the first Impa sealed Ghirahim in a mask to prevent him from attempting to revive his master. Those wards tied down to the statue were intended to hide its dark energy, so that nobody could sense the magic Ghirahim gave off. Does that answer your question?"

"Not quite… there wasn't a mask. On the statue, I mean."

Impa froze, somehow growing even more pale than usual. "Oh my Goddesses. Were the wards cut?"

"I don't know. I thought the spirit was sealed inside the statue itself… They may very well have been cut, but I don't think they were cut. What does the mask look like? Maybe I'll run into it."

"It's shaped like a heart, and it has a number of spikes on its sides. It's multicolored, and has two vibrant, crimson eyes," Impa explained. "It's impossible to miss. And whatever you do, _don't let anyone put the mask on._ I will inform the other Sheikah of its disappearance. Meanwhile, we must focus on the task at hand. Ganondorf takes priority over Ghirahim, because we Sheikah know Ghirahim well. We used to perform hexes through him, to ensure that the seal on Demise was still strong. Ganondorf, however, we know less of. I shall put my power, which should help you, into this Medallion!"

A purple coin emblazoned with the symbol of the Shadow Temple fell out of Hammerspace and into Link's hand. The Sacred Realm began fading into white, and the last thing Link heard before the light took him was "Please look out for the princess!"

_Don't you worry, Impa_, Link thought. _I was already doing that._

**If you're not terrified by the end of this chapter, you should be.**

**Anyway, that was chapter 17. Hope you all enjoyed.**

**NOOTTD: The extra room in the Shadow Temple only serves to house Ghirahim's Mask. You've seen the artifact before. [Spoiler: It's Majora's Mask.] It is my belief that Ghirahim was sealed in Majora's Mask; I mean, everything we know about both characters fits with it. Even the moon. I mean, who but someone as flamboyant as Ghirahim would decide to end the world by summoning a giant celestial object with a face to crash into the earth and destroy everyone within a massive radius?**

**Review Please!**


	19. Chapter 18: Acceptance

**Welp, here we are. Another break chapter. I promise it's not just a whole load of nothing, though. Just trust me. Stuff happens.**

**Also, we are averaging 2.5 reviews per chapter as of right now. I couldn't be more thankful. Conveniently, it's also Thanksgiving in the United States… I swear I didn't choreograph this from the beginning so that the chapter named "Acceptance" is uploaded on this particular Thursday… No, really, I didn't. Thank you all so much for everything!**

**RRRP:**

_ChangelingRin (FF): _It's going somewhere. I'm not at liberty to divulge that information, though. And if you think the Shadow Temple is the Chapter of Belated Insight, may I direct you to this chapter?

_Anon (FF): _First off, Majora's Mask and Ghirahim are the same character, so fighting both at the same time is kind of moot. That being said, the idea of Bellum or CG showing up would be hilarious, if a bit counterintuitive. I guess the one that would make the most sense would be Vaati, but I don't know enough about his character to include him in this fic.

That being said, this review did give me the glorious idea of TOM Link fighting Ghirahim- like, normal Ghirahim from Skyward Sword. The logical extreme of _that_ would be meeting SS Link, which then deviated into Dimensional Links getting hijacked and being thrown into the Tears of Memory universe. That would be hilarious, because of _course _DL needs (read: doesn't need) a mentally unstable Hero with time travel issues, gratuitous amounts of dark magic, and a potty mouth. Especially considering he's a third version of the Hero of Time. Please don't make that happen.

_A Decent Person (FF): _I have long since come to terms with my status as a "horrible person". It doesn't faze me all that much, now that I've accepted and embraced it. But really, no worries! I love getting flames, because often times it tells me what's wrong in the most hilarious way possible. Guys, please flame me more!

_KJynx (AO3):_ I can neither confirm nor deny.

_Chapter XVIII: Minds to Mold_

All things considered, Link hadn't been alone in a long time.

He had brought Ivan to the Great Fairy atop Death Mountain to recover from his ordeal in the Sadistic Temple. She had taken the little sprite from Link with a disturbingly practiced smile, but certainly didn't hesitate from making a few forward remarks to him, making the Hero particularly uncomfortable. Regardless, she had said it would probably take a few weeks for the lesser fairy to fully recover; she cited something about a board and energy drain.

Link had decided that he was going to hang out in Kakariko until Ivan was healed, and then swing by one of the Fairy Fountains located underneath a headstone in the Kakariko graveyard. Why was it there? He had no idea.

Epona nickered softly, cavorting through the cramped back streets of Kakariko Village towards New Lon Ranch. Fallen leaves crinkled under her hooves. The Hylian didn't even bother with steering, instead trusting the horse to get him to his destination. Oddly enough, everyone seemed to track his movements with their eyes. People stopped what they were doing just to stare at their Hero. Small children yelped and pointed their grubby fingers at him, speaking in hushed yips of excitedness. The adults tended to be a little more wary; a new face was often just as dangerous as it was rare in these times, but in Link's case, their gazes were not contemptible. It made Link feel anxious; he hated all of the attention he got from people, but it was always nice to see how much his actions had influenced those around him in a positive way.

Epona promenaded into New Lon Ranch itself, and Link dismounted soon after. Everyone seemed to be out in the fields, replanting the soil with the seeds they had gotten from the dilapidated Ranch out in Hyrule Field. They soon noticed that Link had returned and, just as they had after the Water Temple, begged for an elaborate retelling of Link's experience in the Shadow Temple. He promised a summary for later that night, and in the short silence that followed, offered to assist with their labors. The farmers welcomed him, albeit a bit grudgingly.

The relative lull in life-threatening activity gave Link plenty of time to think. His mind wandered over many subjects, namely the marked absence of knights he had seen guarding Kakariko. Had that many really died at Old Lon Ranch? He had known a good number of them had perished, but he hadn't thought it was enough to constitute the entire Knights' disappearance.

Then his brain drifted to the people he had met in his escapades. He wondered where Zelda was, although he wasn't worried for her safety; Sheik was far more powerful than he gave her credit for. Thinking of one Zelda forced Link to ponder the other, and soon he was reminiscing about the day he was sent back in time, to live his childhood again.

"_Peace has returned to Hyrule," Sheik- no, Zelda- said. Link couldn't figure out where they were standing, as they appeared to be floating somewhere high above the clouds. Ganon was gone, finally, and the adrenaline coursing through Link's veins slowly began to fade. It was over, at last. He could return home and live out his days in peace, preferably with Zelda and Navi at his side. "Thanks to you, Ganondorf has been sealed within the Evil Realm."_

"_I couldn't have done any of it without you and the Sages," Link had tried to refute._

"_Maybe, but you were the one who brought the Sages together in the first place," Zelda asserted. "It is thanks to you, in the end, that peace will once again reign in this world… for a time."_

_Link blinked. "What?"_

_Zelda, evidently, ignored him. "All the tragedy that has befallen Hyrule was my doing… I was so young, and I couldn't comprehend the consequences of trying to control the Sacred Realm. I dragged you into it, too… Now it is time for me to make up for my mistakes…"_

"_Zelda… what are you saying?"_

"_You must lay the Master Sword to rest and close the Door of Time. However, by doing this, the road between times will be shut."_

_Deep down, Link didn't want that. Being shoved back into the body of a child would be painful to his core, and after all the things he had seen and felt and done, he was beginning to doubt he could ever have a childhood again._

_The princess put a gloved hand to her mouth as she eyed Link's left hand. "Link, give me the Ocarina of Time. As a Sage, I can return you to your original time with it."_

"_D… do I have to?" Link said, glancing at his hand which held the Ocarina. He never remembered procuring it._

"_Don't you want your childhood back? That I stole from you?"_

_There was silence for quite some time._

"_Yes… but I-"_

"_Then give me the Ocarina," Zelda insisted, a tiny bit of hardness coming into her voice._

_Almost against his will, Link felt himself place the blue instrument in Zelda's outstretched hand. She looked at Link's calloused palms, fingering the Ocarina as a look of remorse crossed her eyes._

"_When peace returns to Hyrule… it will be time for us to say goodbye…"_

_The Ocarina slipped out of Link's grasp, right hand falling uselessly to his side. Zelda held the Ocarina of Time to her breast, staring at it with a look of pained resignation etched into her features._

"_Zelda, I-"_

"_Now, go home, Link!" Zelda said, sadness spiking into her voice. "Regain your lost time! Home… where you are supposed to be… the way you are supposed to be…"_

"_Wait…" Link managed to get out. "If you must do this, tell me: will we… remember any of this? Will anyone?"_

"_Of course. There is no reason why the Sages should not remember it," Zelda claimed._

_So many questions danced on Link's lips at that critical instant. None of them had a voice, and it was only his cowardice that prevented them from speaking his concerns._

_He didn't want this. He had tried so hard to tell her that he didn't want to go back. Going back in time was a punishment worse than death, but at the very least, he'd have Zelda, Saria, Darunia, Ruto, Impa, and Nabooru to talk to. Right?_

_Right?_

_The fleeting notes of the Song of Time echoed across the vast expanse, as Link was whisked away to the past. He tried to convince himself that everything would be okay, despite the growing horror in the pit of his gut. That fear quickly turned into animosity, at both himself and Zelda, for failing to stop him from leaving the time he belonged in._

He hadn't even noticed his own tears until one of the carpenters came up to him and asked what he was crying about, which Link vehemently denied. He then turned back to his work in an effort to fill his mind with other thoughts, only for memories of his first Zelda to clamor for attention even more. Eventually, Link gave up on fighting off the musings and thoroughly contemplated Zelda's decision. Hours later, the Hero of Time came to the conclusion that, given his own lack of communication, he simply didn't have it in him to blame Zelda for sending him back anymore. Although he had tried to say that he didn't want to be cast away, it was done in such a poorly orchestrated manner that he couldn't bring himself to condemn the princess.

At the same time, while he had forgiven her for her choice, he couldn't go back to feeling how he had once felt for her. He believed that he had loved Zelda, at some point, but that had swiftly turned sour after he realized that she had broken her promise and, by extension, she had betrayed his trust. He now gave Zelda the benefit of the doubt, and assumed that she just didn't know the full capabilities and limits of the Ocarina of Time, but if that was the case, then it meant that she was a liar due to her certainty that she _would_ remember. Either way, he had simply lost the capacity to love Zelda. This applied to the other Zelda as well, because while they may as well be two somewhat separate people, they were practically identical in terms of appearance, mannerisms, and thought processes, and so Link would always be reminded of the other Zelda whenever he interacted with this Zelda. He could be friends with the princess, but nothing more.

That event had left a void in his heart, to be sure, but that gaping feeling of emptiness had been long since filled by other people. Almost everyone he had met factored into this, but the most notable had been the Sages- including this time's Zelda- and Malon.

Malon was an oddity. Link knew he wasn't just friends with her- how could he be, after everything they had gone through together? He often gave her less credit than she deserved, not to be confused with not giving her much credit, and she was the first person he had trusted with his experience in the other timeline. But he wasn't sure where their relationship stood. He doubted it was on the same level as he and his first Zelda had had, but to be fair, it was certainly at least on the cusp of that. And it was far better than how their relationship had been on his first adventure. Before, it had mostly boiled down to her thanking him for bringing Ingo back to his senses. It definitely didn't come close to… wherever he stood with her now.

He decided that he'd bounce it off of Ivan when he got back. A second opinion would be welcome when Link couldn't figure it out himself.

**!0*0!**

"So, where are you off to next, Link?" Malon asked.

"Actually, I was hoping to stay in Kakariko for a spell. See, Ivan almost got squeezed to death by a giant floating zombie hand, and I'm waiting for him to recover. The Great Fairy said it would take about a month. I'm hoping it's shorter. After that, though, I'm going to cleanse the last Temple, the Spirit Temple, and from there, it's a straight shot to fighting Ganondorf. Then this whole thing will be over. Everything will be back to the way it was before Ganondorf took over. And everything will be just fine."

"It won't go back, though," Malon stated wistfully. "You can't undo the past, Link. People will still have suffered for seven long years. No matter what happens after you kill Ganondorf, that pain and anguish will linger."

"It's better than letting more pain and anguish build up, though."

"True. Anyway, it's nice to see that you're taking a break, even if it's against your will," the farmer said, features lightening. "Just because you're my 'knight in shining armor' doesn't mean you have to be everyone's all the time."

"Honestly, I was going to take a break even if Ivan hadn't been injured," Link revealed. "The Shadow Temple was disturbing. Not to mention mentally taxing. I think some respite will be good for me, even if Ivan isn't here.

"That doesn't mean that I'm just going to kick back and do nothing. I'm probably going to scout out the Gerudo and see if I can get the identification I need to get through to the wastelands behind their fortress. But beyond that, I don't have any plans for the next month or so. But I definitely don't plan on doing nothing."

"Of course not," Malon said wryly. "Goddesses forbid you stop working, or- dare I say it- _relax_."

"Well, I have those planned out too, of course," Link chuckled. "I guess I haven't quite switched off of the Hero mindset yet. I'll get to that eventually. But for now, standing here and talking to you is really nice."

She smiled. "Yeah, it is."

They stayed like that for an indeterminate amount of time, wishing it didn't have to end.

**!0*0!**

The ruins of Khalonir rose from beneath the horizon as Link approached Lake Hylia. It had piqued the Hero of Time's interest, so much so that he desired to explore it further than what little he had seen from a distance. Fish were beginning to return to Lake Hylia now that the poison had been cleared. Technically, Link was only there to retrieve Nierak's body from the Water Temple, as some of the Sheikah had approached him back in Kakariko saying that they could use his corpse to reverse the freezing of Zora's Domain, but surely they wouldn't mind if he explored the remnants of the Unification War while he was in the area.

The place was abandoned, broken down and torn to bits by the struggles of nearly two decades ago. The plains outside of the city walls appeared to have been salted, so nothing could ever grow there again. It was empty and eerily silent. It was like all sound had been leached out of the place.

Link proceeded further into the destroyed capital. He appeared to be in what was once the merchant's quarter, given the shape and design of many of the buildings. Of course, most everything had been looted and ripped apart. There was nothing here worth salvaging anymore, save a single bronze circlet partially hidden under some rubble. Link took it, figuring that he could make a gift out of it at some point.

The Hylian approached the center of the Catalian city, Longshotting over the tall walls for the sake of convenience. The first room he came to was full of old, rusted armor and half-broken spears, which Link couldn't possibly fit into his pouch. Granted, much of it hadn't kept well over the last seventeen years, but Rusl probably would have appreciated it.

He'd have to come back at some point.

Finally, Link found himself at the center of the Catalian city, in the main castle courtyard. It consisted of a large plain filled with plants surrounding a dais with several seats situated on it. As someone who had been raised in a forest, Link could most certainly get behind that. He poked around the chairs more, noting the various names etched into them.

One of them read 'Arn'.

Link rubbed his eyes, making sure that he was reading it right. He double-checked his medallion, ensuring that it read the exact same name. If this chair was anything to go by, Link had been the son of someone important, and someone vital to the Catalian government. But if that was true, then how was Arn a Hylian knight? He must have betrayed Catalia for Hyrule and was then targeted by Catalian knights, the Hero of Time reasoned. Yes, that must be it.

Link spent a few more hours exploring the ruins, absorbing as much knowledge as he could about Catalian culture. It appeared to be very similar to that of Hyrule, even though Hyrule and Catalia had been bitter enemies. It saddened Link, that people so similar could be brought to each other's necks.

He left the dilapidated city, moving north towards Lake Hylia. He then sunk into the lake, retrieved the Zora dark mage's cadaver from the final chamber of the Water Temple, and then played the Nocturne of Shadow to return to Kakariko faster.

**!0*0!**

Ten days had passed, and reports showed that Zora's Domain was beginning to thaw once again. It would be some time before it would be back to its former glory, but it was on the road to recovery. The Hero of Time had been requested by Rusl to be present when the majority of the Zora were freed from their frozen prison. Link had accepted, figuring that it wouldn't happen until after he had toppled Ganondorf from the throne.

For now, though, the Kokiri-raised Hylian had bigger issues on his mind; namely, the Gerudo. The desert dwellers had all been brainwashed, if Anjou's father was to be believed. Therefore, Link wanted to scout it out before he was reunited with Ivan.

He knew he had formally entered Gerudo territory when he left the tall grasses of Hyrule Field behind in exchange for parched, tan earth. Nearly twisting his ankle on the rocky terrain, Link progressed further out of Hyrule proper and deeper into the west. He crossed a narrow stream over a precariously placed wooden beam, approaching the bridge that the carpenters had tried to rebuild.

It wasn't a sight at all.

The whole structure looked like it had been torched to the ground. The wood was charred and frail-looking, and the gorge was now too wide for Epona to jump across. Fortunately, the Longshot was still long enough to reach the other side, but Link didn't particularly want to go to the other side at all. Why would he, when two Iron Knuckles flanked either side of the bridge? And that was hardly taking into account the party of Gerudo situated right behind them. Even from a distance, Link could see the dead look in their eyes that came with having no will of their own. He had seen it a few times before; in Nabooru after fighting her in the heart of the Spirit Temple; in Anjou's brother, practically all the time; in the mirror, especially just after Zelda had sent him back all that time ago.

He needed to get into the Gerudo complex, though; how else was he to get identification? It was either stay here and never get to the Spirit Temple or go in and never leave the Gerudo Fortress.

Then he had an idea.

He grabbed the Ocarina of Time and played the Nocturne of Shadow, teleporting straight in front of the cavernous entrance to the Shadow Temple. He walked in and rummaged through his pouch, trying to find the thing he was looking for.

He never found it.

Then he realized that he had never received it in the first place.

Link sighed, procuring the Ocarina of Time once more and playing the Serenade of Water, only to remember that that song brought him to Lake Hylia and not Zora's Domain. Sighing exasperatedly to himself, Link played the Bolero of Fire to warp to the inside of Death Mountain, took the tunnel into Goron City, and then used the rapid transit to go directly to Zora's River through the Lost Woods. He played Zelda's Lullaby on the triforce plaque and, after the waterfall split, jumped across the gap into Zora's Domain.

It was practically raining in the place, as the dark magic keeping the ice frozen had faded. Now it was all melting, filling the Domain with cacophonous drips. Link ignored it all, summoning his Stalfos Shield to protect his hair as he traversed the Domain. Eventually, he found himself at his destination: behind Zora's Fountain, where Lord Jabu-Jabu had once sat.

He blew up an innocuous-looking wall and entered it, finding himself inside of a Great Fairy's Fountain. The Hylian then realized why he hadn't picked this one up; because he had just met the Death Mountain Great Fairy and couldn't have handled another one. Plus, he didn't honestly think he would need it.

Just his luck, then, that he would.

He stepped inside of the Fountain and was blessed with Farore's Wind, a powerful teleportation magic that ran on warp points. While taxing on magic power, it was hands-down the fastest form of travel.

Link then warped back to the Shadow Temple and set up a warp point right by the entrance with Farore's Wind before using the Ocarina of Time to instantly travel to Lake Hylia. Now, if things went south, he could easily warp out and come back to try again. From there, it was a much shorter trip back to the Gerudo Wastes.

He Longshotted across the gap, thoroughly wetted by the uncharacteristic raining of the place, and was instantly cornered by the Gerudo and Iron Knuckles. Behind him was the sheer drop of the cliff, so backing up was hardly an option.

"You will reveal your identification… you have five seconds to comply before you are forcibly apprehended…" one of the Gerudo droned in slightly accented Hylian, grayed eyes boring into him There was no lilt or tone in her voice whatsoever. She looked familiar, what with the gold eyeliner and bangles and all. It was the voice of someone with no free will. She said something else, but was drowned out by the sound of the storm.

Link knew he had no such Gerudo identification, but he had proven that the desert dwellers relied on the identification tokens to determine who was a Gerudo and who wasn't. This confirmed his theory that if he were to gain access to the Haunted Wastelands, all he needed was one of those dastardly little cards.

Now the question was how to get ahold of one. He doubted he could pickpocket a Gerudo, much less one of the Iron Knuckles, but he doubted he could get ahold of one any other way. During the last timeline, Link had earned the favor of the Gerudo by freeing the carpenters, but they had returned to Kakariko, and even if they hadn't, Link didn't believe the warriors would be so kind as to not slaughter them on sight.

"Ugh… where am I…"

The Hero of Time shook himself out of his doldrums to see the lead Gerudo that had initially questioned him clutching her head. Her eyes opened again, revealing that they were a striking gold and not the gray they had once been. Awareness suddenly clicked in his brain as he recognized her. All she was missing was a clothes change and a ponytail, but she was unmistakable.

"N… Nabooru?" Link asked incredulously. What was she doing here? Wasn't she supposed to be in the Spirit Temple?

"Hang on… is that you? Lonk, or whatever your stupid name was?"

"_Link_," Link corrected, trying to control his indignation at being called something so insulting. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"I was waiting for you… at the entrance to the Gerudo Training Grounds, like you told me to. You said you would come with the Silver Gauntlets… where were you?"

Link didn't have an answer to that. "I…"

The temperature around him suddenly plummeted before returning to normal, and Link could somehow sense the arrival of two new people in the area. Whirling around revealed Koume and Kotake, floating over the gorge on their broomsticks, watching with muted mirth at the scene in front of them.

"Looks like she's back to normal, Kotake…" the fire witch stated.

"And what a shame, Koume… She was such an obedient little slave. What should we do?"

"Maybe we should make her work for the Great Ganondorf a little longer, eh? Ho ho ho!"

"Then we can brainwash her again! Hee hee hee!"

"Nabooru," Link whispered. "Run."

She needed no second warning. The Gerudo was already on her feet and darting deeper into the Gerudo Fortress, given that there was no bridge to run across. Ganondorf's mothers, however, were expecting such a move, and with but a flick of their fingers, whisked Nabooru's body away somewhere else.

"And for the boy… Destroy him."

The witches then followed suit, disappearing in a flicker of red and blue. Link remained on the precipice of the gap, aghast. Had he… told Nabooru to go to the Fortress seven years ago, only for the entire population to be brainwashed? For that matter, where had the witches gone? Where had they taken her? Back to the Spirit Temple? How would he even get there in the first place?

He was rudely awakened from his reverie when something sharp collided with the bridge of his nose, and his vision faded to black as he was catapulted backwards off of the cliff. He tried to warp back to the Shadow Temple with Farore's Wind, but the blow knocked the magical conduit just out of his grasp. His last thoughts before hitting the turbulent water at the bottom of the ravine were of everyone that he'd be abandoning if he died here. Nabooru. Rusl. Darunia. Saria. Impa. Ruto. Zelda.

Malon.

**!0*0!**

When he woke up, he felt… strange. He had grown used to having a current of dark energy flowing from his Stalos hand, but it seemed to be absent. He expected there to be more pain, what with the fact that he was dead and all. He took a long look at the place he'd probably stay for the rest of time. It was surprisingly dismal for an afterlife. The ceiling was made of stone and old-looking wood, which was quite the letdown. Honestly, Link had always privately assumed that there was no Valhalla to go to when people died, even though religious dogma demanded it. After all, what could possibly be more perfect than the natural world in which they lived?

Granted, Hyrule wasn't doing very well of late, given how Ganondorf had seized control of the kingdom, but Link's point remained.

Some unintelligible murmurs drew Link's attention from his reverie, and he sat up on the gurney on which he was laying to see that he was actually in the Lakeside Laboratory off of Lake Hylia. The old man who worked there must have found Link's waterlogged corpse floating down the river and felt enough pity to drag him out of it. It then occurred to him that he was no longer wearing a shirt, and that there were two strangely shaped singe marks just below his pectorals.

"Ah, took you long enough," the scientist cackled, pivoting and sashaying over to Link's body. "You should count yourself among the very resilient, yes, yes…"

"Uh… Honestly, I'm just surprised I'm not dead," Link answered, noting the evident lack of use of his voice.

"Oh, you did die," the probably senile old man revealed with a not very reassuring smile. "Fortunately for _you_, it took you so long to die that I was able to drag you all the way here and, for lack of a better term, resurrect you. It's not very hard to do, given how the mind dies a little later than the body. To save a strapping young lad like yourself was no trouble, really. All it took was a little, itty-bitty massive electric jolt. The only real side effects are a light headache, sensitivity to light, and maybe a tiny chance for some teensy-weensy serious brain damage."

The Hero of Time guessed that that made sense. It must have been when after his body died that Healing Fairies healed him, but before his mind had died. He had instantly decided to ignore everything else the scientist had to say, except the fact that the pounding migraine that he had was apparently normal. "T… thank you… How can I repay you?"

"Don't bother," the old man decreed. "I already leached all of your dark energy out of you and put it into this little concoction with the ashes of that Kumangiriza that you slaughtered a month or so ago. I'll charge you for that, but not for literally saving your life."

Link quirked an eyebrow, feeling violated by his lack of consent but still grateful that he hadn't died. He should have honestly had the foresight to stock up on Healing Fairies more, especially by now. "What does that do?"

"Now that the water isn't poison, I can dedicate myself to the much more enjoyable sciences; namely, the study of these eldritch abominations that now walk this earth," the old man explained curtly. "I have found that the Kumangiriza has special magical properties in its beak that allow them to cut through magical barriers like they don't exist! Isn't that exciting?"

It was at that moment that Link realized just how terrified he ought to be of this scientist. "Uh… sure?"

"So, if I could extract that enchantment, I could destroy any puny, insignificant mage who ever _dared _to cross me! This happens to be the prototype. I charge two hundred and fifty Rupees for a dose. Frankly, it's a great bargain. All you have to do is dump it on whatever weapon you want to enchant and then report back to me every once in a while and tell me how it's going!"

Link had had five hundred Rupees for quite a while now and no way to spend it, so he might as well. Using dark magic on the Master Sword was practically sacreligious- no, it _was_ sacreligious- so putting it on the Biggoron Sword would probably be better.

"Screw it, I'll do it," Link declared, forking over a massive sum of Rupees to the scientist. The old man did a jig of glee as he took the money and forked over a rather small vial with a label that was crossed out and had 'Kumangiriza Essence' scrawled below it. The original label appeared to begin with 'a' and end in 'os'.

Thanking the crazy old man, Link swiftly departed from the Lakeside Laboratory and made for the Gerudo Valley once again. He was intelligent enough to not fling himself into axes of the Iron Knuckles once again and die for it. Instead, Link opted to camp out on the other side of the ravine and see if the Gerudo ever stopped watching over the bridge for some reason.

They never did.

It was raining when Link gave up; he turned aside and regressed back towards Hyrule proper. It had been raining an odd amount ever since the Hylian had made camp, especially considering that the Gerudo lived in a desert, where it wasn't supposed to rain all that much. It was rainier in the desert than it was in Hyrule Field, somehow.

Even in spite of the fact that he had failed to garner Gerudo identification, Link was content as he traversed the barren Hyrule Field, only stopping once to rent a room in a local inn. While Link didn't really need to, he had decided to get used to sleeping in beds again; he didn't want to be some savage beast-child anymore. He was more than that now. He had largely put his grief behind him, and was ready to face the future. He had hope that everything would be just fine. Once Ganondorf had been sealed away again, Link could do… anything, really, with anyone he chose. That choice was paradise in and of itself.

**I swear, these chapters get fluffier with each installment.**

**Anyway, short chapter. I know. Don't worry, though, the next chapter will be a lot longer and more interesting, as we're hopefully going to get into MQ Spirit Temple, which is going to be more my forte.**

**NOOTTD: The fact that the Iron Knuckles are Gerudo is a reference to the fact that Gerudo models can be found inside of those iron behemoths. 'Nuff said.**

**Review Please!**


	20. Chapter 19: It's Everywhere!

**404: Intro not found. Try again later.**

**RRRP:**

_ChangelingRin (FF): _Hallelujah. The last thing DL needs is a TOM crossover. Yes, Link still has the Stalfos Hand, it's just been drained of all of its dark magic. That darkness will 'recharge' over time from Link's own life force, so he's the same in that regard. And yeah, being brainwashed sucks. At least it's not _just_ Nabooru this time.

_Setokayba2n (FF): _Thank you! And I didn't put dark magic in the Master Sword; it's in the Biggoron Sword.

_Chapter XIX: Temple of Sand, Infant Edition_

Link threw his body weight backwards, wanting nothing more than to get out of the cycle of good old-fashioned graverobbing.

Well, it wasn't quite that. The Great Fairy had said that Ivan was ready to rejoin Link, and that he was in a Fairy Fountain in a grave behind Kakariko, but she hadn't specified exactly _which_ grave it was. For that reason, Link was more or less forced to dig up every single grave in the village cemetery, a number which was certainly disproportionate to the number of living citizens of Kakariko. To make matters worse, most of the graves didn't have anything, and only stowed away Poes, which then tried to attack Link. They weren't a problem for Link to deal with, merely irksome, but they definitely got on the Hylian's nerves.

He had scored a free Hylian Shield out of one of the graves, though, so he supposed it wasn't all that bad.

The grave that Link had just finished unearthing hid a hole beneath it. Hopping down revealed that it contained nothing but a cracked wall. It soon exploded into a pile of ashes thanks to a well-placed Bomb, revealing a Fairy Fountain behind it. Link ignored the Healing Fairies in favor of the off-violet sprite hovering in the center of the room, staring back at him.

Ivan sighed. "It has been far too long, leetle man."

"Far too long, indeed," Link ascertained. "Also, could the Great Fairy not have told me which grave this thing was in? I spent the last hour laboriously dragging around tombstones trying to find this place! At least I found this shield, but that's really it."

"For a Hero of Time, you sure do defile tombs an awful lot," Ivan mocked playfully.

"That was a one time thing and you know it!"

"Ivan jests," the sprite responded, throwing his hands up in mock self-defense. "What's next on our to-do list?"

"We have to get past the Gerudo Fortress and into the Haunted Wasteland, because that's where the last Temple is," Link explained, hoisting himself out of the grave. "Problem is that all the Gerudo are brainwashed, and don't take very kindly to me trying to Longshot over the big old gorge that separates Hyrule from Gerudo territory. I can't just walk around the ravine, because Ganondorf would die of old age before I got there.

"Long story short, we need Gerudo identification, but we can't get that, because all the Gerudo are brainwashed and want our blood. Got any ideas?"

Ivan looked pensive. "How did you do it last time?"

"Last time, I snuck into their base and rescued some of Anjou's dad's carpenters from imprisonment," Link reminisced. "They recognized my skills and made me an honorary Gerudo because I managed to out-thief them. But I can't do that now. What do you think?"

"If only they weren't brainwashed or something," Ivan said in an odd tone, nudging Link with an elbow.

"Can't exactly un-brainwash them, because they're brainwashed and won't let me go to the Spirit Temple to de-brainwash them in the first place," Link drawled.

"Ivan _said_, if only they weren't brainwashed or something…" Ivan repeated.

"If you're not going to be helpful, then-"

"_Just go back in time!_" the fairy suddenly burst.

"Huh?" Link repeated.

"Ganondorf caused the Gerudo to be brainwashed, right?"

"Right…"

"So, if we went back to before Ganondorf brainwashed all of his people, they wouldn't be brainwashed anymore, silly leetle man!"

Link blinked. "Ivan… I don't know what to say. How did I not think of that?"

His guardian only chuckled as Link played the Prelude of Light.

**!0*0!**

A younger Link descended from a vortex of blue onto a pedestal on an island in Lake Hylia, due to its relative proximity to Gerudo Valley. From there, it would only be a half-day's walk back to the bridge over the massive ravine that separated Hyrule from its desert neighbor.

The time passed uneventfully. The few Peahats that tried to decapitate him were easily bested by Link's new Hylian Shield, even if it was so large that he couldn't possibly use it on his forearm like he had once done. He made sure to avoid the villages in the area, in case they weren't friendly to half-skeletons or were entirely purged when Link had fought Ganondorf at midnight in front of Hyrule Castle.

How long had it been since that day? It felt like years. The rational part of Link knew, of course, that it had only happened about six months ago. Even still, though, the Hero of Time had been wholly consumed by his quest for vengeance against the King of Evil, and as such had lost all sense of time. The inevitable onset of winter hardly helped matters, cooling temperatures sending chills and shivers along Link's body. He pulled his arms in around himself to conserve body heat, wishing that he had time to set up a fire to warm himself during the swiftly approaching night.

"It's funny," Link said after some time. "I'm the Hero of Time, but I can't command its speed."

Ivan looked at his partner. "You have a song that turns it to daytime, don't you?"

Link blinked. "Oh," he eventually stated, rather lamely, as he procured the Ocarina of Time and played the Sun's Song twice, changing the time to early morning. Comparatively, it was much warmer than dusk.

**!0*0!**

As it turned out, the Gerudo were not, in fact, brainwashed yet. That was a good sign.

The only issue was that they weren't particularly keen on letting Link slip past.

The only passage across the ravine was a tiny, open bridge with no cover whatsoever. Even in darkness, Link would be painfully obvious. The Gerudo were most certainly vigilant, and even if he did manage to get behind the one Gerudo blocking the bridge, the egress point was sealed with a massive iron gate that Link couldn't possibly hope to cross. On an unrelated note, a number of large metal cylinders on wheels were pointed at said gate, and they were in close proximity to a large pile of iron spheres. Link didn't understand their purpose, and ignored them for that reason. Rappelling up the side of the gorge wasn't an option, as the nearby waterfall made it so slick that the Hylian wouldn't be able to get a good grip on it. And there was no other point where Link could cross over to the other side. This bridge was the only way to get across, and Link would have to take it.

There had to be a way to smuggle himself in somehow. There had to be some way to earn Gerudo identification. Otherwise, he was stuck.

Wait.

He could just play the Requiem of Spirit and go directly to the Desert Colossus!

Then he remembered that he had inexplicably forgotten the Requiem of Spirit. Crud.

"Any ideas, Ivan?" Link asked.

"The Gerudo sometimes go to Castletown in an effort to find… uh… _boyfriends_," the fairy mentioned carefully. "Maybe you can 'find' identification that way?"

"That's a good idea. Thanks," Link said, playing the Prelude of Light to warp back to Hyrule Castle.

It was probably the worst possible time to warp, though, as there was some kind of congregation occuring in the Temple of Time. People had finally figured out that the Door of Time was open and were now packing themselves inside, fighting to get just a glimpse of the Master Sword. Fortunately, they all had their backs turned to Link, so he could easily slip back out into Castletown. It didn't help the fact that he had nearly had a heart attack upon seeing the throng of Hylians swarming the sacred blade..

He combed the streets, only to find neither hair nor hide of any desert dwellers. He was about to give up when he spied a shock of red hair atop a tanned face in window in the Happy Mask Shop. Eagerly, he went inside and searched for the feminine body attached to that Gerudo face, only to find that it was nothing more than a veneer. Still, though, maybe it would fool the Gerudo guard enough to get him into the complex.

He asked the Happy Mask Salesman if he could purchase the Gerudo mask, only for the red headed mask maker to go completely ballistic, practically foaming at the mouth. After recovering from his psychotic fit, the salesman kindly informed Link that the Happy Mask Shop didn't _sell_ masks, it _lent_ them. Apparently, Link would have to sell a Bunny Hood to get the Gerudo mask, which he could only sell after selling a Wooden Mask, which became accessible after selling a Skull Mask, which he would unlock after selling some kind of yellow mouse mask called a Keaton.

He took the Keaton mask and warped to Kakariko, gifting it to the Hylian knight guarding the gate to Death Mountain. He then returned to Castle Town and paid for the mask out of his own pocket. Link then borrowed the Skull Mask, but quickly found that he had no idea who to sell it to, so he simply went to the middle of Hyrule Field and burnt it before returning to the Mask Shop, claiming to have sold it. He then just repeated the process with the remainder of the masks, finally gaining access to the Gerudo mask. Sure, he lost Rupees, but he refused to schlep across all of Hyrule selling masks to people. He had better things to do with his time.

"How do I look?" Link asked, wearing the Gerudo Mask.

"From the neck up, you look like a bonafide Gerudo," Ivan said. "But everything else, sheesh. For one, you're not quite tan enough. Then there's the matter of your height, width, and musculature, which don't reflect that of a female desert warrior. And that's not even taking your clothes into account."

"What about in the dark?" Link supplied, desperate for a solution regardless of its stupidity. "If they can't really see me, they can't call me out on not being a true Gerudo."

"That's not going to work, leetle man," Ivan grumbled. "But if you want to try, be Ivan's guest."

**!0*0!**

The 'Gerudo' approached the Valley, praying that his disguise combined with the cover of darkness would be enough to fool the real Gerudo. The stars were dimmer than usual, which reduced the ambient light a bit. Far below him, the river rushed and churned as it flowed down towards Lake Hylia.

Link crossed the bridge slowly, footsteps causing the overpass to creak just slightly as he traversed it. He could barely see the Gerudo guardswoman on the other side of the bridge, but he could see that she wasn't buying his disguise. At all.

She took a step forward. He took a step back. Link could tell that his ruse had been defused, and now he was horribly confused; what did he do now? Best to back out and not reveal his own identity, right?

He grabbed the Ocarina of Time and softly played a song. Given how the Gerudo opposite him suddenly paused, she had heard anyway. The Hylian waited for the teleportation song to whisk him away from the situation, safe to try again.

That never happened.

Then a droplet of water hit the top of his head.

It started raining in earnest, which was odd considering the fact that it had been a cloudless night but a few seconds before. Link finally process exactly which song he had played, and realized that, in his panic, he had played the Song of Storms and not the song he was intending.

The Gerudo on the other side of the bridge stared at him. "Did you do that, kid?"

"Uh, yeah," Link said, pouring as much confidence into his words as he could. "I definitely didn't play the wrong song or anything… or plan to teleport away, yeah, that'd be crazy. This was one hundred percent intentional, definitely…"

She started chuckling, then began laughing in earnest.

"If you weren't some little kid trying to sneak into Gerudo territory in the middle of the night with nothing but a dinky second-rate mask, I'd buy you a drink!"

"Oonamu, what's going on back there? Can't you see that it's pouring?" another one of the Gerudo guardswomen yelled from further into Gerudo territory. "Go get a bucket and fill it with as much water as you can get! These things don't happen very often!"

Then it clicked for Link.

The Gerudo lived in a _desert_, where it hardly rained. Getting as much water as they needed was obviously a struggle for them. However, when Link was an adult, it was raining quite a lot…

He had _taught_ the Gerudo to play the Song of Storms to summon storms whenever they needed them, hadn't he? An idea was beginning to form in the back of his mind.

"... solve the problem!" Oonamu was saying before turning to Link. "I know all men are worthless except the Great Ganondorf, but this kid might be able to help us!"

"Come on, we're not _that_ bad," Link argued weakly. "Most of us, anyway. Cut us some slack."

"Maybe it's coincidence," a third voice piped up.

"I can play the song again," Link suggested.

"Shut up, voe!" that second voice echoed.

"Ah, let the kid do it," the third voice emanated. "That way, we can prove that it's not a fluke."

Link played the Song of Storms again, and the rain restarted in earnest.

"Have we proved that the kid is causing the rain yet?" Oonamu hollered.

"But he's a _voe!_ Voes are all useless except the Great Ganondorf!"

"Well… if he's proven that he can control the weather… I don't see the harm…" the third voice said.

"Oh, come on!"

"It's settled, then. We take him to Aveil," Oonamu decided, reaching out and snatching Link's wrist before procuring a rag from somewhere and tying it around his eyes, ensuring that he couldn't see. He was then thrown over Oonamu's shoulder like a sack of sand and was carried all the way into the Gerudo Fortress, although he could only tell from memory of the terrain from last timeline.

**!0*0!**

When the cloth came away from his eyes, Link realized that he was locked in one of the cells he had once freed the carpenters from. If his mind served him correctly, it was the cell deepest within the Gerudo fortress.

His cubicle was surrounded by a large number of Gerudo, staring back at him with a mixture of emotions etched into their tanned features. There were a few looks of confusion, a handful of neutral, and one or two expressions Link couldn't recognize, but the vast majority looked on with disdain or even outright anger. They were babbling amongst themselves in the Gerudo dialect, of which Link could understand very little.

"They're arguing over whether or not to kill us, leetle man," Ivan translated.

"Well, that's lovely," the Hero of Time grumbled.

The argument amongst the sand warriors went on for some time, as Link and Ivan awaited their fates. Hours passed, and yet the Gerudo had yet to even acknowledge the Hylian's presence amongst them. Link would have passed the time by organizing all of the stuff in his pouch, but that was rather difficult to do when both of his wrists were shackled to the wall. Plus, someone had taken his pouch off of his person while he was being brought here.

Eventually, the bickering petered off, and one of the Gerudo slowly sashayed over to Link's prison. The youth instantly recognized her as the Gerudo who had run the Fortress in the last timeline, while Nabooru had been brainwashed by Ganondorf's mothers in the Spirit Temple.

"Who do you think you are, kid?" she asked, dangerously calm.

"Honestly, I have no clue," Link answered, trying desperately to remain nonchalant. "I think I'm Link, but who knows? I might be the king of Holodrum and not even know it."

"Kid's got spunk," she murmured. "Do you understand the gravity of your situation?"

"Yes. Kind of hard to not understand the gravity of the situation when I'm surrounded by dozens of armed women capable of ripping me to shreds, especially given that I'm chained to the _wall_."

Aveil- Link assumed it was Aveil, given how Oonamu talked about her and the fact that she seemed to be leading the Gerudo in the room- chuckled a bit. The rest of the Gerudo did not join in.

"I get that I'm a _voe_ and that I'm supposed to be worthless, but there's something I can do. I'm sure Oonamu has already talked to you all about it while I was out."

"She did," Ivan supplied.

"Basically, I know a song that summons storms. Problem is, I think it only works on my Ocarina, and I can't give you that because… well…"

"It doesn't really belong to him," Ivan filled in. "Leetle man is just delivering it to someone. Someone in the Spirit Temple beyond the Haunted Wastelands. What was her name again?"

"Nabooru," Link said.

"Yes, her."

Aveil stiffened. "Nabooru isn't expecting anything. I know that because she just left for the Spirit Temple a few weeks ago and didn't mention needing anything, much less a _musical instrument_."

Link tensed. "Okay, I admit that what my partner told you is stretching the truth a bit, but it's definitely not a lie. I'll be happy to teach the song to you, but in return, I need Gerudo identification. Hell, you can make it expire after a decade or something, just give me one of those tokens and I'll give you all the water your people need."

There was silence for a few seconds as the present Gerudo processed what Link had offered and was demanding in return. Then they all burst out into raucous laughter, which lasted for some time before finally stopping.

"The kid's telling the truth," Oonamu's voice rang out. "I was there, on the bridge, as he summoned thunderstorms with that little blue ocarina of his. As improbable as it sounds, it's not a lie."

"But then there's the issue of it only working with that specific wind instrument," another Gerudo chimed in. "The kid's not going to give up the ocarina for this. And for that matter, why does he want identification?"

"Because I need to get to the Spirit Temple, and the only way to get there is through the Gerudo," Link attempted to explain. "I need to get the Ocarina to Nabooru, no matter what. And it needs to be set in stone; it can't just be something in the back of your head."

"Those are… oddly specific requirements," Aveil noted.

"It's what I must do," Link said. "Please. I want to help you just as much as you all collectively doubt me. I have no reason to lie to you. What would I gain?"

"You're a _voe_," one of them spat, before a good number of Gerudo started a shouting match with her, causing the entire chamber to erupt into arguments before Aveil shut it down.

"You yourself said that the song only works on that blue Ocarina of yours," the Gerudo leader mentioned, "meaning that even if we knew the song, it wouldn't do us any good anyway. You'd have to give us that Ocarina-"

"Hell no," Link refuted.

"Then we are at an impasse. You will stay here, then, until you come to a decision, and we will act accordingly. Do we make ourselves clear?"

The Gerudo behind Aveil nodded vigorously, evidently satisfied at the conclusion of the pseudo-interrogation. When Link said nothing in return, they slowly began to file out of the room to leave Link to his own machinations.

"Wait!" a voice rang out.

Aveil turned to see the fairy, who had previously been mostly silent, suddenly take a more active role in the negotiations.

"Prostite, but… the song might not only work on the Ocarina of Time," Ivan said.

Link blinked. "Really?"

"You could play the Sun's Song on Saria's Ocarina, could you not?"

"Well… yeah, but-"

"Then why is the Song of Storms any different? Better to try than to do nothing."

Link sighed. "Fine. Unlock my chains and let me get my Ocarinas. If it works on Saria's Ocarina, then we can proceed. If not, then we're back at square one."

Aveil barked an order to one of the other Gerudo before turning back to Link. "You're not leaving that cell before that, though. Understood?"

"Understood," Link affirmed. A few minutes later, the Gerudo returned with Link's pouch in tow.

"Is it in there?"

"Should be," the Hylian said.

Aveil opened the pouch and pawed through it, first removing Link's Giant's Wallet. It was nowhere near full, only having about two hundred Rupees inside.

"Where'd you steal all this money from, kid?" Aveil asked, probably trying to make conversation.

"Just a few ancient temples," Link answered, with none of the childish boasting one would expect from someone his age. "Most of the other equipment in there was also liberated from those places."

"Like this dinky slingshot?" the Gerudo boss drawled.

"That was from the interior of the Great Deku Tree, a lesser deity of the Kokiri Forest, who asked me to purge a curse inside of him. He died shortly afterwards, though."

Aveil guffawed a bit, rummaging through Link's bag some more before finally finding and procuring the blue and beige Ocarinas.

Link pressed Saria's Ocarina to his lips- a difficult task, given the chains- and played the Song of Storms. He heard nothing happen outside, so he assumed that it hadn't worked. He started to play the Prelude of Light to try to break in from the future again before a thunderclap emanated throughout the room. Ivan started laughing triumphantly. Outside, he could hear the Gerudo talking quickly as they scrambled to store as much water as they could before the storm dissipated. Aveil was standing still, listening to the delectable chaos unfolding outside of the cell, before stepping forwards and unlocking the door to his cell.

"You're going to teach the girls how to play that song. I'll write up that identification for you. Don't worry about anything the other Gerudo say about you being a _voe_, okay?"

"I… wow… thank you so much! This is better than I hoped! How long does the identification last?" Link asked, ecstatic that he was one step closer to slaughtering the Gerudo King.

Aveil looked at him. "Kid, Ganondorf normally calls the shots, but he's not here. Neither is Nabooru, so that leaves me in charge. As far as I'm concerned, you're an honorary Gerudo for the rest of your life, and given what you've done for us, I doubt they'd mind at all."

Link knew that Ganondorf most certainly _would_ mind, given the fact that he was Demise's spiffy puppet, but bringing that up probably wasn't the best idea.

**!0*0!**

Link had wanted to stay as a child and just go to the Spirit Temple directly, but he had forgotten the massive ravine of quicksand that he would need the Longshot to traverse. Dejectedly, he began to turn back towards the Temple of Time to come back as an adult, which would be possible now that he had identification. Fortunately, the Gerudo had graciously allowed him to use one of those large metal cylinders from the bridge, which they apparently called 'cannons'. They were designed for firing the iron spheres that he had seen next to them, but with a bit of fine-tuning, they could be engineered to launch Link himself. They had done so surprisingly well and hadn't even scratched the Hylian; he soon found himself on the other side of the river of grit and dust.

From there, the Hero of Time had to follow the various pikes that the Gerudo had set up, that would lead him to the next part of the trial. Link could barely see anything through the violent sandstorm that had taken residence in the Haunted Wastelands, and was practically being carried by the strong winds deep into the desert.

He managed to claw his way through the dune sea, however, and came across a small stone edifice erected in the sand. Wasting no time, Link dragged himself into the structure and climbed down a ladder, finding himself in a basement that housed two torches and a Gold Skulltula. He ignored them, opting instead to take off his boots and dump the metric ton of sand that had coalesced there.

"I hate sand," Link grumbled. "It's coarse, rough, and it gets everywhere. Hell, it's even in my tunic! This is awful!"

"Are you surprised? You're the one who's done all of this before…"

"Last time I went through this place, I was an adult, and had a white shirt and pants on underneath it," Link mentioned. "In case you haven't noticed, I don't have those now, and there's nothing stopping half the sand in the desert from diving in."

To close his case, Link adjusted the belt of his tunic a bit, causing even more sand to pour out.

"Ivan sees your point," Ivan relented. "Still, the faster we get to the Spirit Temple, the faster we can get out of here. Da?"

"Fine," Link yielded, picking himself up and scaling the ladder, returning to the heart of the sandstorm. He climbed up the stone structure, embarrassingly trying to climb up the wrong side due to the reversed world, and found himself in front of a stone plaque of some sort. He wasted no time in peering through the Lens of Truth once more to see a rather large Poe just sort of floating there.

Ivan, who had been reading the plaque when Link donned the Lens, jumped at the ghost's sudden appearance. It was odd, considering that Link was the one looking through the Lens of Truth, but apparently Link looking through the Lens also gave Ivan the ability to see through the illusions.

"I'll be your guide on your way, but coming back, I won't play! I'll show you the way to go, so follow me and don't be slow!" the spirit cackled as it drifted away from the stone fort. Link scrambled to follow, constantly donning and doffing the Lens of Truth to preserve Magic and still be able to see the Poe that was guiding him through the wastes.

Link followed the Poe for a while, only to notice two glaring flagpoles off in the distance. He checked over his shoulder to see that he was, in fact, facing away from the building he had left from. If his memory served him correctly, wasn't the Spirit Temple up ahead?

"Hang on… this Poe is literally leading us in circles… and the Temple is right over there… Screw it, I'm going that way," Link declared, deviating from the ghost's path and making for the two flags on the other side of the sands. He darted beneath them and headed forwards, only to find himself back at the short stone structure he had left from. Thoroughly confused, Link clambered on top and saw the exact same plaque sitting on top. And the Lens of Truth revealed the exact same Poe waiting to guide him to the Spirit Temple.

"Okay, that's bullshit," Link grumbled, feeling himself lose ten Rupees as he dejectedly followed the Poe in its hardly logical path through the wastes.

This time, after going through an identical pair of wooden flagpoles, Link found himself facing the giant stone goddess statue that sat outside of the Spirit Temple. The sandstorm had thankfully let up the instant Link had entered the area just outside of the Temple, leaving no obstacles for the child to beeline for the entrance, although he did veer left right at the beginning so that he could grab Nayru's Love from another Great Fairy Fountain.

He entered the Temple through a gaping hole between the Sand Goddess' legs, finding himself inside of the Temple proper. Two massive basilisk statues flanked a simple stone staircase, emblazoned with Gerudo insignias. There were also two boulders on either side of the staircase, but the Armos that had been present the last time were noticeably absent.

The sound of rushing water reached Link's ears as he ascended the stairs, and turning to his left he realized that the source of the noise was coming from a massive pillar of water that cordoned off the left wing of the Temple. Link knew it was the adult section from memory, and therefore wasn't all that worried about it.

There was a single chest tucked away in the bottom-right corner of the first room, which contained some Bombchus. Since he had too many Bombchus to carry, Link merely set them back in the trunk and carried on, like he'd never opened them in the first place.

Link shifted his attention towards the Gerudo kneeling by a small hole in the rightmost wall, as if trying to figure out a way inside. As soon as he approached, though, she abruptly stood and stared at him with an imperceptible expression on her face.

"Haven't seen you around, kid…" she said lowly. "What do you want?"

"I heard this was where Ganondorf's minions were plotting some stuff," Link stated confidently. "Figured I could mess them up."

"Really?" she asked, incredulous. "You're here for the same reason I am? What good timing! First of all, let me introduce myself. I'm Nabooru of the Gerudo. I'm a lone-wolf thief. But don't get me wrong! Though we're both thieves, I'm totally different from Ganondorf. With his followers, he stole from innocent women and children, and even killed people for no reason! A kid like you might not know this, but the Gerudo race only consists of women. Only one man is born to us every one hundred years… but even though our laws say we must make that man king, I'd never bow to a man as vile as that! Anyway, enough about me. What about you, kid?"

"My name is Link," Link revealed, "and this is Ivan. Like I said earlier, we-"

He was interrupted by Nabooru bursting into laughter at the Hylian's proclamation. "Link?! What kind of stupid name is _that_?"

"It's _my_ stupid name, I'll have you know!"

"Heh, I like you, kid… Anyway… remember that thing I told you about, that can help us stop Ganondorf? It's through here. You see, there's this treasure inside of the Spirit Temple that we can use to rout all of Ganondorf's followers. It's called the Silver Gauntlets. When you wear them, you'll get superhuman strength and be able to push things around with ease. It won't fit a kid like you, though, so don't even try to keep it for yourself. I want you to be a good boy and give them to me! Ganondorf and his minions are using the Spirit Temple as a hideout, and only the Silver Gauntlets will allow us to sneak deeper into the Temple. Once there, we can ransack the whole place and really mess up their plans! How about it?"

"Sounds like a deal… on one condition," Link said. "As soon as I go through there, you go back to the Gerudo Fortress. Once I have the Silver Gauntlets, meet me at the entrance to the Gerudo Training Grounds. I already have identification, so you won't need to worry about that."

He felt awful, orchestrating the future Sage of Spirit's own brainwashing. But time had forced his hand; who knew how time would be screwed up if he refused. He was the Hero of Time, but he was also its slave.

"This is a ruse to keep the Silver Gauntlets for yourself, isn't it?" Nabooru asked, squinting her eyes.

"No… what if I told you I've seen the future? A future where you're brainwashed by Ganondorf into doing his bidding? Would you believe that I'm taking every precaution to avoid that?"

The Gerudo thief blinked. "I'd laugh in your face."

"You don't have to believe me. All you have to do is trust me," Link declared. "You do that for me, I'll bring you the Silver Gauntlets. Besides, what do I have to gain from lying to you? I can't even wear the Silver Gauntlets; just look at my hands!"

Nabooru snorted in an undignified manner before regaining her composure. "Alright, sheesh, kid. I'll hold you to that," she stated. "You and I, let's give Ganondorf and his cult a big surprise, shall we? I'll be waiting in front of the Training Grounds. And if you do manage to bring me the Silver Gauntlets… I'll do something _great_ for you!"

She brushed past him and strode out of the Spirit Temple, hips swaying as she left in a way that left Link staring at her like a moron before shaking himself out of his reverie. Evidently, he'd picked up a few bad habits from being an adult.

"Uh…" Ivan piped up. "What… exactly… was the 'great thing' Nabooru just promised you?"

"I never figured it out, honestly," Link answered. "But last timeline, she lamented not being able to keep it after meeting me in the future."

Ivan gulped. "Ivan does not like the sound of that."

**!0*0!**

The room beyond the small hole was completely engulfed in flames, along with a few Torch Slugs that were easy to dispatch despite Link's horrendous lack of range with the Kokiri Sword. Shooting an eye switch caused the flames to disperse, but they revealed nothing, even after a peek through the Lens of Truth. Once the Torch Slugs had all been slain, the two side doors unsealed.

Link chose the leftmost door at random and ran through it, finding himself on one side of a large canyon that was blocked by a huge metal fence. On his side were a pair of graves and a Gibdo, which Link defeated with the assistance of the Sun's Song. He also managed to stun the two Gibdos on the other side of the gate, which he wasn't even aiming for in the first place. But there appeared to be nothing left for Link to do in this area except exhume the graves.

Apologizing to Ivan in advance, Link hoisted one of the headstones up and lobbed it into the abyss, noting how the bottomless pit wasn't actually bottomless. In its place was a gold button, which when triggered, caused a part of the gate to fall backwards. It still didn't help Link solve the puzzle of getting to the other side, though. It was then that he noticed several boulders stuck in the walls of the room, including one directly behind the section of the gate that had fallen. The two on his side of the room hid nothing underneath them, but the third rock appeared out of reach until Link considered using a Bombchu to crawl along the bottom of the gap and blow up the rock, revealing an eye switch hidden behind it.

Shooting the gold eye caused a crystal platform to appear, allowing Link to jump over to the other side. Killing the two Gibdo there caused the exit to unseal, permitting Link to step through.

The next room was going up in flames around a giant spinning disc of some sort suspended from the ceiling. There was nowhere for Link to go save onto the giant turning platform, so he hopped on top. A Stalfos also appeared on the turntable and attempted to spring towards Link with a powerful overhead slice, but the spinning of the disc threw it off, and it sailed into the abyss below. The fire promptly died down and the exit opened up. Link grinned at his own good luck, and jumped off of the turntable to progress.

Link was quick to snipe all of the Keese in the room with his Slingshot before they could touch any of the four torches and become Fire Keese. He then exhumed a nearby grave and stepped on the golden switch hidden inside, causing another iron fence to fall across a chasm that would grant him access to the other side. There was a large chest and an Anubis on the other side, but a quick blast of Din's Fire quickly dealt with the latter issue. The crate contained a Dungeon Map, and the small chest that appeared in the wake of the Anubis' death had a Small Key inside.

Leaving the room brought him back to the first area. Link began to crawl through the cramped tunnel that led to the second floor, only to realize that it was blocked off by something. Dragging himself back out of the crawlspace, Link procured a Bomb and kicked it into the hole. After the ensuing explosion shook the whole room, the Hylian peered through the hole again and saw that the blockage had disappeared. Clambering through again, Link was able to reach the other side, where he noted a rusted switch that would normally only be pressable by the Megaton Hammer. Odd.

He used his newly acquired Small Key to open the locked door that he was faced with, finding himself in a small space with a diamond switch. Without thinking, he drew the Kokiri Sword and hit the switch. He heard the grating sound of iron on stone above him, and he looked up just in time to see a Like Like descend on his face. Without time to react, Link was sucked into its undulating maw and separated from his shield before being spat out. The Hero of Time then proceeded to gut it like a fish until it evaporated, spewing out his Hylian Shield. He then climbed up the rough stone to reach the second level, but he was immediately attacked by several Baby Dodongos and a Beamos. Link summoned his Stalfos Shield and slapped the Beamos' beam back at it, causing it to destroy itself, before he focused his attention on the Dodongos flopping around like a fish out of water. Needless to say, they all died very quickly, and a small chest appeared. Hoping that it was the Small Key that he needed to progress, Link opened it and found a single Bombchu. He used that Bombchu to destroy a rocky outgrowth in the wall, allowing sunlight to stream in onto a disturbingly happy sun plaque. Once the light hit it, the sun started smiling, causing another chest to appear- in a place completely inaccessible to Link himself.

"Ivan, do you have any idea how to get up there?" Link inquired.

"No clue," Ivan responded. "Maybe you don't have to get that yet. Remember that rusted switch back in that last room? You must have to come in this section as an adult somehow and Hookshot to it or something."

"Well, what do you suggest, then?" Link asked irately.

"Maybe you missed something in one of the other rooms?" Ivan said.

"I combed those so carefully, though…"

"Not that first one. There were two boulders by the stairs," the fairy mentioned.

Link paused. "You're right. We should check those."

He returned to the entrance to the Temple and destroyed those boulders, discovering a Silver Rupee underneath each of them.

"That doesn't help me… the other Silver Rupees are on the other side of that geyser," Link lamented, ascending the stairs and pointing out the Silver Rupees separated by the water.

Then he stopped.

Because there was a third boulder hidden behind the leftmost basilisk statue that he hadn't noticed before. Destroying it revealed an eye switch, which triggered a chest to appear when it was activated. Opening the chest revealed a Small Key.

"Ivan, you're the best, you know that?" Link asked.

The sprite in question only grinned bashfully at the compliment.

**!0*0!**

Link now found himself in the main chamber of the Spirit Temple. He glanced at the Dungeon Map, and was somewhat disgusted to find that the second and third floors seemed to be oddly similar to the internal systems of the human body. The second floor represented the stomach and intestines, and the third floor represented the arms and torso of a human being. Absently, he wondered if this extended to the first and fourth floors of the Temple, but scoffed. He'd carved through enough monsters to recognize the second and third floors of the temple, so why would the first and fourth be any different?

He took in his surroundings. There was a large statue of the Sand Goddess to his right that took up much of the chamber. There was a golden eye switch hidden cheekily on one of the Goddess's legs, which Link shot. This caused a large chest to appear on a small dais right in front of the Goddess of Sand. It contained the Compass.

There were several totem poles with torches on top that Link couldn't hope to ignite all in one go, although there was a frozen eye switch above a locked door that he could probably cast Din's Fire to activate. The Hero of Time's theory was proven correct, and triggering the switch caused the sealed door just beneath it to open.

According to the Compass, there was a chest in that room, but Link couldn't see it. Even checking the Lens of Truth didn't reveal anything where the chest was supposed to be. This angered Link. He didn't want to be stuck in another Forest Temple situation, where he couldn't find the button he needed to proceed.

"There's an Eye Switch in that hole," Ivan mentioned.

There was, in fact, an Eye Switch inside of a massive hole flanked by an enormous stone that would require the Silver Gauntlets to move. Shooting the switch caused that chest to appear once more, revealing a Small Key.

He returned back to the Goddess room and climbed back up the westmost side. He found that the door that he needed to go through was locked tight, and not even a Small Key would help him. In other news, there was a blue switch on one of the Goddess's hands that would probably cause that door to open. But where would he find something to put on that button? His question was soon answered when he looked down and saw a Song of Time block floating right next to the lowest section of the west staircase. However, the spikes adorning the sides of the staircase were simply too high for Link to jump over, meaning that once he got the box, he wouldn't be able to get back without jumping off again.

He leapt onto the box, and noted how Ivan turned green right next to the block, indicating that more Song of Time blocks could be spawned there. Playing the Song of Time, Link grabbed the wooden crate and strolled up the stairs, ignoring the living pot that tried to smash into him, and set the box down again when Ivan revealed that there were more Song of Time blocks he could spawn in. He played the Song of Time, causing a Block of Time to appear in a place that facilitated Link to jump across, placing the crate on the blue button. True to his prediction, the door on the western staircase unsealed, allowing the Hylian to progress.

The next little hallway was adorned with pillars that seemed to be ripped straight out of the Fire Temple, what with the fact that they spewed flames all over the elegant-looking carpet. It was miraculous that the whole place hadn't burnt down yet, although those two rooms below him were probably signals of what was to come.

So was the room immediately after that, as it was filled with flames. Even worse, Fire Bubbles kept launching themselves out of the floor directly at Link before descending back below the stone tiles again, creating an extremely tense atmosphere due to the uncertainty of whether a Fire Bubble would appear at a certain place at a certain time or not. Shooting an Eye Switch caused the flames to temporarily abate, allowing Link to sprint past the Fire Bubbles in order to get to the light on the other side of the room. Link grabbed the first block he could see, which had a sun on it, and dragged it into the light. It caused a chest to appear in the corner of the room. Opening it caused an arctic wind to surge forth, engulfing Link in a massive, frigid icicle.

Eventually, the Hero managed to break himself out of the ice, shivering madly. He then spent the next few minutes by the fire in an effort to coax some warmth into his body. He then returned to the light and grabbed the next sun block before yanking it into place. Thankfully, it caused the entrance and exit doors to unseal. Triumphant and still sitting on a key, Link wasted no time in leaving the room.

He was now stuck in a little hallway, with a Giant Skulltula hiding above him and a locked door ahead. Link sprinted up the stairs, rolling under the Skulltula as it descended from the heights, and unlocked the door, which sealed itself behind him.

**!0*0!**

The last room was adorned with pillars of identical shapes, following a crimson carpet as it snaked towards the last door, which was sealed. In front of the door, however, was an Iron Knuckle- at least, that's what the Hero of Time had expected. Instead, there was a giant black suit of armor with a sword and round shield where the Iron Knuckle was supposed to be.

"That's a Darknut," Ivan supplied. "They're loosely related to the Iron Knuckle, although nobody's sure how. You'll want to remove its armor and then attack, alright?"

"So it's an Iron Knuckle with a sword and shield. Got it," Link replied, awakening the Darknut by whacking it with his tiny Kokiri Sword.

The first thing that he noticed was that the Darknut was far faster than any Iron Knuckle was. However, it attacked in much the same way; it slowly approached before bringing its blade down in a heavy arc in an attempt to hit Link. It gave the Hylian barely enough time to scurry out of the way and retaliate with a quick attack to its back, where there was a tiny chink in the armor that he could exploit with his miniscule blade.

Then it slapped him with its shield.

Link was thrown back across the room, painfully colliding with the Darknut's throne. He was lucid enough to see that it was trying to stay on his left side, the side that housed his bad eye. It was clearly trying to gain an advantage over Link, which he had to begrudgingly respect. If he hadn't lost his eye so long ago, he would have been much more disconcerted by the Darknut's actions.

He spent a good deal of his energy on casting Nayru's Love on himself before sprinting at the Darknut. It tried to retaliate by swinging its sword in a horizontal arc, but Link Backapparated behind the attack and shoved his dagger through an armor chink in the Darknut's armpit. Most of the chestplate fell away at the attack, allowing Link to attempt to withdraw the Kokiri Sword and drive it through the Darknut's heart. However, the swordsmonster swung its blade around, catching Link off-guard and lobbing him across the room. Nayru's Love protected him from injury, but it didn't help with being thrown around like a handkerchief in a monsoon. Shaking stars away from his eyes, Link got his feet underneath him and blocked the Darknut's blade with his Stalfos shield, managing to deflect the stroke just enough to disorient the Darknut. From there, it was a straight shot for Link to drive the Kokiri Sword straight through a thin gap in the Darknut's visor.

It spewed blood from its facial wound, getting its internal fluids all over Link's garb and face. Once it stopped moving and struggling, the door behind it unsealed. Link, for some odd reason, felt a twinge of remorse; evil as it may be, the Darknut was an honorable opponent. For that reason, Link spent a few minutes crossing its arms over its chest and its blade. A soldier's death. It was fitting, somehow.

The same could not be said of all the blood on his face, though. That would have to go. Although it would have looked great on him if he was deliberately trying to look like he was insane, which would have fit perfectly on him at the beginning of this second adventure.

**!0*0!**

"Ayy, what's up, Link? Surprised to see me?" Kaepora Gaebora hooted.

"No…" Link mumbled morosely, wishing he didn't have to deal with Rauru's reincarnation at this point.

"A long time in this world is almost nothing to you, is it? How mysterious!" the owl continued. "Even I thought the tales of a boy who could travel back and forth in time were merely legends. Link, you have fully matured as an adult."

"Thanks," Link drawled. _It's not like I'd done that already or anything…_

"From now on, the future of Hyrule is on your shoulders. Maybe it's just not my time anymore. Here is my last piece of advice: Two witches inhabit this Temple. In order to destroy them, you must turn their own magic against them! Hoot hoot!

"I will continue to watch over you… remember that…"

With those final words, the owl turned and flew off into the sunset. Link turned to the large chest in the Sand Goddess' hands and cracked it open, revealing the Silver Gauntlets. The caught the light in just the wrong way, reflecting it straight into Link's own eye. He staggered as he tried to recover his vision, nearly dropping the Gauntlets in the process.

An emanating, warbling tone soon caught his attention, and Link turned to see Koume and Kotake floating there, staring off into the desert. There was no Nabooru being sucked into a portal, so he assumed that she had gotten to the Gerudo Fortress well enough.

"My, my, it would appear that our little friend has turned tail, Kotake," the red sister stated.

"Yes, it would appear that way," Kotake replied. "I was going to enjoy making her our slave…"

"Who said we couldn't?" Koume replied.

"Her sisters would go up in arms against us! Of course we could not!"

"We could if we brainwash the whole lot of them, instead of just the one girl."

There was silence, as Link winced. He'd caused that.

"I love the way you think, sister dearest," Kotake declared giddily, as both witches flew off in the direction of the Gerudo fortress.

Link sighed, playing the Prelude of Light to warp back to the Temple of Time. It was deserted, as usual. He stepped towards the Pedestal of Time and drew the Master Sword, sucking him into the future.

It would be his future, as soon as Ganondorf was dealt with.

**I hope I'm writing Koume and Kotake right, because they're both hilariously demented. The Spirit Temple is going to be a two-parter, just because it's really long and I've got a lot of stuff planned for the next half. Don't you worry.**

**Anyway, finals are next week. After that, I'll be able to churn out more chapters of this. **

**NOOTTD: I don't think there is anything.**

**Review Please!**


	21. Chapter 20: Sands of Time

**Chapter 20. Wow… just wow. That's, like… a fifth of a hundred!**

**DISCLAIMER: This fanfiction is not going to go to a hundred chapters.**

**Anyway, thank you guys so much for sticking with this fic. I really appreciate it!**

**RRRP:**

_ChangelingRin (FF):_ Yes, it IS a Star Wars reference. However, I dispute the fact that Anakin and TOM Link don't make a good comparison. Link takes a good eighteen chapters to get over his moping, while Anakin gets it done in about five- six, if you include Rogue One. And while Skywalker doesn't get to work through his grief in a natural and coherent way- or at all, for that matter- Link would be much the same way if not for Ivan, Malon, Zelda, and the Sages. Plus, Link got _everyone_ ripped away from him at the end of vanilla OOT, whereas Anakin only lost Shmi and that one Rodian whose name is never mentioned, as far as I know.

Honestly, I'm surprised there was less stuff on Nierak, our Lord and Savior, than this.

_OlafTheDestroyer (FF)_: First off, I love your name. Second off, yes, this story does progress very fast. Part of it is thematic; Link doesn't really pay attention to his surroundings because he's already done it before, and is trying to bring down Ganondorf as quickly as possible while avoiding being sucked into the past again. For that reason, he's brief and blunt, which does sometimes work against him (usually with Malon). The other reason is personal; I cannot embellish to save my life. This leads to a lot of the conversations and descriptions being quick and concise. It is also assumed that the reader, like Link, has played a good amount of vanilla OOT and knows what everything looks like already to fill in the gaps. Also, thank you, fellow Brandon Sanderson reader!

Anon (FF): Thanks!

_Chapter XX: Temple of Sand, Mature Edition_

The sands of the Gerudo desert were so much more bearable now that Link had more stuff on under his tunic. Not to say that he never wore anything under his green garb as a child; a pair of green shorts extending to about halfway down the thigh was common, as was a light brown undershirt. They just didn't make clothing tailored to desert life in the Kokiri Forest.

Link stepped into the Spirit Temple and was instantly faced with a conundrum. The path to his left that he was forced to take was blocked by a massive geyser of water. Worse, closer inspection revealed that there weren't any switches in Link's part of the room. The Iron Boots didn't help Link, as the force of the water spout was still enough to repel him.

The Hylian spent at least an hour trying to figure out how to get past the water spout. The Lens of Truth didn't reveal anything. None of the walls were bombable, which Link discovered after laboriously driving the Biggoron Sword into every nook and cranny of the chamber. He was stuck, and he hadn't even left the first room of the Temple!

"Is there any other way out of this room? One that doesn't require us to go through there?" Ivan asked logically.

"Well, there's the ele-" Link paused, staring at the ceiling towards the blocked-off hole in the roof where an elevator had stood in his previous exploration of the Temple. It was blocked by a boulder, and the Hero of Time suddenly understood why there was a number of Bombchus in that first chest. He planted a Bombchu on the floor before going for the chest, watching the little explosive mouse as it crawled along the walls and destroyed the blockade. Link waited expectantly for the elevator to descend, only for it to not come down. Confused, Link peered further up the hole, only to see a Hookshot panel at the very top.

His exploration of the passage was further blocked by one of those gargantuan stone cubes. Link glanced at his now-gauntleted hands, remembering how he had broken his promise to Nabooru for an instant before shoving the thoughts out of his brain. He threw his weight against the stone, only to realize that the weakness in his Stalfos Hand created a number of issues with moving heavy objects. As things stood, Link could barely move the block a minute amount at a time, even with the assistance of the Silver Gauntlets. Eventually, after a lot of time and even more sweat, Link finally managed to push all of the blocks into their respective holes. He took the opportunity to wipe the perspiration off his forehead before leaving the snakelike room, finding himself facing the smaller Sand Goddess statue that existed within the larger one.

His first action was to shoot all three of the pillars with Fire Arrows to light the torches that resided on top. This caused the door at the bottom of the adult side of the temple's staircase to open. Unfortunately, Link had no clue how to actually get up there, given how there wasn't a Hookshot panel like last time.

"Hmm… This would be a good place for a scarecrow to grow," Ivan mentioned.

Link gave him a look that screamed his confusion before suddenly understanding what the fairy was getting at. "Oh, right," Link said, withdrawing his Ocarina and playing his nine-note tune. Pierre the scarecrow appeared, allowing Link to Longshot on top of the staircase.

He went through the door and was greeted by three sun plaques on the opposite wall. There was supposed to be a mirror to reflect the light onto the suns, but there inexplicably wasn't present. Link checked the Lens of Truth just to make sure he wasn't going crazy, and he wasn't. He'd need the Mirror Shield to get back to the left-hand side of the first floor. He left just before the pair of Stalfos that had appeared landed their slashes in his face.

**!0*0!**

The last door was locked, necessitating a Small Key for Link to progress. But where could he get a small key? Would he need to go back in time?

"Try going to the other side," Ivan suggested. "There was that rusted switch that you couldn't press before."

"But what's that going to do? It's probably going to reveal this chest right here, but we can't get that because it's inside this central chamber through the tiny tunnel. I can't fit through that tunnel as an adult, and going back as a child would be pointless because I won't have been an adult to press the button in the first place, meaning that the chest wouldn't have appeared yet!" Link complained.

"Do you have a better idea?"

Link sighed, not even bothering to respond as he Longshotted across the gap and walked through the lower door. He then remembered the chest that had been out of reach as a child, and Hookshotted to it. It contained a Small Key. The Hero of Time had wanted to leave, but Ivan convinced him to go and press the rusted switch anyway. It did exactly what Link had predicted, and now he was mad. Time was something he didn't want to waste.

He returned to the top right door, unlocking it with his Small Key. He was greeted by another hallway engulfed in flames, and a wall of fire appeared as soon as Link reached the midway point. Not seeing any way he could walk around the fire, Link took a deep breath and sprinted through it, spending a bit of dark energy and health to teleport to the other side. He landed on his back, faceup, in a prime position to view the blatantly obvious Hookshot panel sitting on the ceiling. Mentally kicking himself, Link proceeded to go through the rest of the hallway and into the next room.

It featured several Beamos placed precariously on tiny stone platforms suspended over a dark abyss. There were also several Blocks of Time scattered about the room, but the Hylian was unsure of their exact significance. Killing the Beamos was easy enough; all it took was a few well-placed bombs to destroy them. Once they had all exploded, the door leading Link back to the main room opened and a small chest appeared, which only contained a large Bundle of Arrows.

Obviously, the rest of the room required extensive usage of the Song of Time. Link first played the song to teleport the Block of Time directly to his right, revealing a blue button beneath it. Stepping on that button caused the sealed door to his right to unseal, but stepping off of the switch nullified its effects. There had to be a box around here somewhere. The Hylian looked for a while, but saw nothing. He noticed that the Block of Time had moved to a spot directly underneath the other Block of Time. Unsure of what else to do, Link played the Song of Time again on the other side of the room, causing one of the blocks to teleport away, and the other block to move downwards slightly.

"That doesn't help me!" Link groaned, sinking to his knees in defeat and ignoring the soft thump of something falling somewhere.

"Ivan thinks it does," the fairy said, flying to a higher vantage point. "Look! There's a wooden box on top of this Block of Time!"

"How, though? The Block of Time was just touching the ceiling! There wouldn't be any space for the crate!" the Hero of Time argued. "This doesn't make any sense!"

Ivan gave his partner a droll look. "Leetle man, has anything made much sense this entire adventure? Think about it. Your first dungeon consisted of running around in the inside of the Great Deku Tree, _lighting things on fire_. Your third dungeon consisted of technically performing surgery on a fish god with _living cows _stuck in the walls. If that doesn't not make sense, Ivan would go back to the Water Temple just to eat the hat that you left there."

"You're right…" Link relented. "But how do I get on top of there? It's too high for me to jump."

"Play the Song of Time again. The crate will fall onto the box that gets teleported there," Ivan suggested. Following his instructions caused the Song of Time blocks to teleport around the room again, and allowed him to jump onto the newly spawned Block of Time and retrieve the box. Link then carefully maneuvered around the room, even donning the Hover Boots as an extra precaution, and set it down on the blue button. From there, Link could finally leave the puzzling chamber and continue forwards.

**!0*0!**

As soon as the door closed behind Link, a pair of the Lizalfos' more violent cousins, the Dinolfos, descended on the Hylian and attempted to drive their short swords into his flesh. They were more agile than their relatives, and therefore much more difficult to deal with. However, it still wasn't that big of a problem for Link to handle, as a well-timed Hero's Spin killed both of them instantly.

There was a small chest situated on a rug and a Block of Time situated on top of a spot of light. Link would need the Mirror Shield to properly deal with the Block of Time, and ignored it for now.

He turned to the small chest and was about to open it before hearing Ivan protest.

"Hang on! Ivan doesn't trust that chest! There's something… off about it."

"I'll be fine," Link assured, opening the container. He was promptly blasted with an arctic wind and frozen on the spot. Ivan just chortled as his partner desperately tried to break himself from the ice. Shivering madly, the swordsman kicked the chest halfway across the room in vengeance, but was shocked to see that it had caused the sealed door right next to him to open.

"Huh," Link commented intelligently, stepping through the door.

It lead to an empty hallway, with a sealed door at the end. Link smirked, peering through the Lens of Truth to reveal an invisible Floormaster protecting the door. It immediately turned green and flew towards Link, but because it was at the top of a staircase, it zipped straight over Link's head and landed by the other door. One swipe with the Biggoron Sword caused it to split into three smaller Floormasters, and they were all wiped out with a Spin Attack.

Link reorganized his inventory as the door unsealed. He then decided that the Biggoron Sword ought to have a name, as just calling it 'the Biggoron Sword' was honestly rather insulting given how much he had been using it over the course of his adventure. Something that reflected its new dark magic properties would be fitting, but he hadn't decided yet. He'd give it more thought after he finished up the Spirit Temple.

He walked through the door as it slammed shut behind him, revealing that he was in a nearly-identical room to the one that had once housed the Darknut a long time ago. He drew the Biggoron Sword in preparation to fight the Darknut that probably inhabited it, only to find that, like last time, the chamber was inhabited by an Iron Knuckle. Link slowly stalked over to the Iron Knuckle's throne and rammed the Biggoron Sword through its midsection, but he was shocked to see that the long blade pierced straight through its torso and stuck out the other side, caving through much of the armor there. Unfortunately, Link was unable to yank the blade out before the Iron Knuckle raised itself and bashed its axe straight into his torso, throwing the swordless Hylian away. Internally groaning, Link drew his Master Sword for the first time in a long time and picked himself up off the ground. The suit of armor was moving towards him as fast as it could, which wasn't all that speedy, considering how it had a magic-piercing longsword jutting out of its abdominal area. The remainder of the battle progressed in a simple fashion, which consisted of Link landing a quick blow before immediately backing up. Before too long, the Iron Knuckle collapsed and evaporated into blue mist, and the entryway behind its throne unsealed. Link re-equipped the Biggoron Sword and went through the door, finding himself on the Sand Goddess's right hand. There was a large chest precariously placed there, which contained the polished Mirror Shield.

Link stowed away his Hylian Shield before slinging the Mirror Shield onto his back. Experimentally, he tried equipping it, only to find to his dismay that even with the power of the Silver Gauntlets flowing through his greaves, his Stalfos Hand simply didn't have the raw strength to lift the Mirror Shield on its own. He would have to wait until he got the Golden Gauntlets from Ganondorf's Tower until he could fight the way he used to. Then again, in all that time, Link had grown used to fighting with only the Biggoron Sword and the Stalfos Shield, and honestly, that was going to be the way he kept fighting. The Mirror Shield was far too heavy for him to use effectively while wielding his strongest weapon, and while the Hylian Shield was comparatively much lighter, Link could only use it to its maximum potential while using it in conjunction with the Master Sword, which limited the Hylian's reach and power. He'd take the Stalfos Shield any day due to its versatility caused by its weightlessness, despite being limited by his dark magic. For that reason, Link had taken to preserving one of his bottles for a Green Potion to refill on mana if he ever needed it. It just worked.

He kept the Mirror Shield on his back, because he'd need to reflect sunlight a good deal for the rest of the Spirit Temple.

**!0*0!**

Link noted that he could instantly slay Gibdos with his enchanted Biggoron Sword.

The mummy in question had been guarding the Boss Key, which was hidden behind a locked door that Link had managed to unseal. The trick was to reflect the sunlight underneath that Block of Time in the chest switch room into a sun face. Seizing the Boss Key, Link returned to the large room with the miniature Sand Goddess seated within it, disregarding all the foes that blocked his path.

Now that he had the Mirror Shield, Link could _finally_ conquer the left hand side of the first floor. He darted down the left staircase, ignoring the Floormaster that had taken residence there, and stepped through the lower door.

Two Stalfos jumped out of the floor and tried to kill him as soon as the Hylian entered. Worse, a Wallmaster was hovering over Link, waiting to strike. The Hero let himself be hit by one of the Stalfos and then Backapparated off of it, using his own life energy to extend his teleportation. He timed it so that the Wallmaster had descended right when Link teleported away. While Ivan distracted one of the Stalfos by flying around in its face, the Hero of Time was able to destroy the Wallmaster and pin the other skeletal warrior by its hands. The second Stalfos eventually got bored of Ivan and focused its attention on the seemingly-occupied Link, taking the opportunity to launch itself into a jumping slash. At the last instant, Link threw himself away from the attack, and the Stalfos found its blade embedded in the other Stalfos' ribcage. It then disassembled, signifying its end. While the remaining Stalfos' attention was otherwise consumed, Link crept up behind it and clamped his hands on the skeleton's skull before twisting it viciously, actually ripping the head straight off of its shoulders. It then fell apart, dissolving into green flames. The swordsman then turned his attention to the three sun faces situated underneath a small crack in the wall that allowed sunlight to filter in. The air wasn't as stale here, which the Hylian really appreciated.

He laboriously pointed the Mirror Shield at the leftmost one, only for it to burn up, situating that it was the incorrect choice. Instead, it summoned another Wallmaster, which Link defeated easily. The Rupees it spewed out filled his wallet. The central sun was also the wrong choice, and it spawned yet another Wallmaster. Deducing that the third must be the correct choice, Link shifted the Mirror Shield towards it, only for the sun to… also burn away. The Wallmaster that it summoned swiftly met its end, and only then did the iron bars covering the path forwards come away. Instead of climbing down the hole like a sane person would do, Link opted to simply throw himself down it, somehow landing safely at the bottom. From there, he blindly sprinted past the few Spikes patrolling the hallway and went through the door, ending up on the other side of the waterspout from the very first room. The Hylian first turned his attention towards the out-of-place boulder smack-dab in the center of the room. It soon fell to pieces thanks to the Megaton Hammer, revealing a rusted switch. Slamming the switch with the Hammer caused the geyser to finally disperse for all of ten seconds before it started up again. Link decided that he'd ignore it for now, instead opting to walk through a door to the right of the way back up. The other one was locked and needed a Small Key to unseal.

It was empty save a Gold Skulltula on the ceiling and a small Triforce engraving on the floor. Playing Zelda's Lullaby caused the iron bars lining the door to disperse. But there was still a collectible in the room that Link couldn't see, even with the assistance of the Lens of Truth. He hopped down into the sands below the Triforce engraving, only to be assaulted by several purple tumors that rose out of the scalding sand and threw themselves at the Hylian. He slaughtered all of them as a chest appeared on a small pillar amidst the dunes. It only contained Rupees, which Link didn't need, considering the fact that his wallet was stuffed full.

He returned to the central room and smashed the rusted switch again, running over the rushing waters and collecting the other two Silver Rupees hiding in the room. This caused a third chest to appear, which contained a Small Key.

**!0*0!**

The Hylian was unsure why he had let Ivan convince him to use the Small Key on the last door of the first floor, but it had somehow happened.

The room contained two boulders rhythmically rolling perpendicular to the tracks that they were supposed to be on. There was also an inexplicable Moblin Boss casually sitting in front of the other door.

"You know what? I want to try using one of the Void Arrows," Link decided. "How many of those do I have again?"

"Four," Ivan supplied.

"Yeah, I'm going to shoot the Moblin Boss with one of them," he declared, pawing through his bag to find the requisite enchanted arrow. He loaded one into his bow, noting the awesome-looking dark energy that pulsed out of the tip, and fired it, nailing the pig right between the eyes.

The Moblin's back arched as it brayed in agony, skin charring and atrophying as the Void Arrow did its work. Soon, it was dead, leaving nothing but a decaying husk in its wake.

Link stared at the remains, shocked and awed by the Void Arrows' power. Shaking himself from his gawking, he hit the rusted switch next to him, which caused some iron gates blocking a little divot in the wall. There wasn't anything in the inlet, but it was adorned by a little Block of Time on top of it.

"Look at all of these rooms…" Ivan breathed. "That one has a sun on top of it. That one has… is that a crate from Old Lon Ranch?"

"Hang on, what?!" Link exclaimed, focusing on the aforementioned crate. Indeed, there was a Lon Lon Ranch crate casually placed on top of one of the sides.

"That other one has the Triforce on it, and that other one is blank," Ivan noted. "What does it mean?"

"I don't know… but when there's a Block of Time, you play the Song of Time. When there's a Triforce, you play Zelda's Lullaby. Maybe we have to play songs?"

"Good idea!" Ivan said as Link entered the little inlet and played the Song of Time. That caused the Lon Lon door to open up. Playing Epona's Song in there caused the Sun door to open, in which playing the Sun's Song caused the Triforce door to open. Lastly, by process of elimination, that meant that the unmarked inlet required the Song of Storms, or perhaps Saria's Song. The Song of Storms turned out to be correct, and the locked door that the Moblin Boss was once protecting opened once more.

As soon as he entered the now-unblocked room, a whole infestation of Giant Skulltulas descended from the ceiling, startling Link. Instead of laboriously slaying each Skulltula individually, the swordsman merely opted to cast Din's Fire and killed them all in an instant, including the Golden Skulltula hidden on the wall.

The room contained a chest on a small dais, adorned with a carpet. Link wondered what was inside of it. It was a large chest, but he had already acquired the Compass, Dungeon Map, Silver Gauntlets, and Mirror Shield. Gently, Link leveraged the chest open and found that it contained a purple book. It was thick, and adorned with three silver circles, two of which had tiny openings within them. Link's Stalfos Hand seemed to react to it, almost yearning to open the tome and reveal its contents. For that reason alone, the Hylian was plenty wary of it.

"Ivan, can you tell me what this book is?" Link asked.

"That… hm… Ivan thinks it's some sort of dark magic tome of Gerudo design, but… Ivan isn't sure. Open it, but don't say anything. You might unwittingly cast a spell."

With his partner's advice in mind, Link cracked open the book and reviewed its contents, but was dumbfounded with what he saw. The words kept on shifting and changing, and it was in some archaic language the swordsman didn't recognize. Also, they seemed to be flowing into his Stalfos Hand. This revelation was accompanied by a surge of acute agony, not unlike the pain that occured when Link dispelled his Shield after not using it. However, this torment was much more drawn-out, which made it feel even worse. Link gritted his teeth as the energy from the book finally stopped flowing into his corrupted left hand.

The tome only contained a single spell, named Utarefson. If Link's understanding was correct, the spell drained life energy from other living beings and used it to infuse the caster's own vitality. However, it was by far the most taxing spell in Link's arsenal, easily consuming a third of his dark magical reserves, even with the Interloper Ring he had found in the Fire Temple. Regardless, it appeared to be an excellent way to save his own skin in a pinch if he was out of Healing Fairies or something.

"So? What's the verdict?" Ivan asked.

"It's a spell called Utarefson," Link revealed. "It drains life energy out of enemies and then allows me to heal myself with that energy. It's really taxing on my magic, though."

Ivan appeared to cringe for an instant, but Link was half convinced his mind was playing tricks on him. "Nosferatu spelled backwards? Interesting…"

"What's a Nosferatu?" Link asked.

"An old legend spoke of a creature by that very name, who struck a deal with Demise for unlimited power. Nosferatu became extremely powerful, yes, but there was a cost; his life became dependent on the blood of his victims, and it eventually took to sneaking up to children and biting them, drinking the blood from their veins until it was all drained away."

"Uh… that's not comforting…" Link gulped. "Warn me if I start lusting for blood, okay?"

"Ivan was already going to," Ivan laughed.

"Anyway… this was cool and all, but it doesn't help me finish this Temple… have any ideas where we can find another Small Key?"

"Well, there's that one chest…"

"Ivan, we went over this. The laws of time dictate that we can't get that chest, because when we go back in time to get the chest, I won't have pressed the button yet and the chest won't have appeared. There might as well not be a chest there at all."

**!0*0!**

"Ivan misses your hat," Ivan mused.

"Why?" Link blurted, stepping away from the Master Sword that was now embedded in its pedestal.

"Because Ivan doesn't feel right just sitting on your head, and your hat was the perfect roof in case it started to rain," Ivan explained as the child and fairy began their trek to the Spirit Temple, footsteps echoing through the Temple of Time. "Plus, it is very comfy."

"Well, too bad. I'm not going to get another cap in the future, so live it up while I'm wearing this one," the youth spat, pointing violently at the green hat now affixed to his head.

The fairy wasted no time in slipping below the Kokiri garb, and soon he was snoring away under his hat.

Link re-entered the Spirit Temple and immediately noted that a third chest had somehow appeared and was open, something he had done in the future. Similarly, the boulder blocking the path upwards that Link had destroyed as an adult was gone.

"Ivan, I swear to the Goddesses, if you're right…" Link grumbled, getting on all fours and shimmying through the cramped tunnel on the right side.

Ivan was right. There was a chest smack-dab in the middle of the room, which contained a Small Key.

"But that doesn't make any sense!" Link complained. "I haven't been an adult to hit the button yet! Hell, I can't even lift the Megaton Hammer right now, much less swing it around! Come on, that's bullshit!"

"Time is weird," Ivan mumbled from underneath Link's hat. "And why are you complaining? You got a Small Key out of it."

"But… but… it's just… ugh," Link lamented. "This is giving me a headache."

"In the words of a time-travelling youth, 'the less you think about it, the better'," Ivan reminded.

There was silence for a few seconds, or at least as much silence as there could have been over the roaring of the flames that wreathed the room.

"Shut up, Ivan."

**!0*0!**

A physically older Link leapt across the abyss in the Beamos room and approached the last locked door. He opened it with his paradoxical Small Key and stepped through it into the next room.

He was still mad about that.

This next room featured several Fire Keese noisily flapping about as sections of the wall slid along, sections of which were climbable. The wall was adorned with Silver Rupees which Link would presumably have to collect, which would be infuriating if he discounted the fact that he could Longshot onto the climbable portions of the wall and then fall back to the floor, collecting the Rupees as he plummeted.

He made sure to kill the bats first, though, because he despised Fire Keese with a burning passion. He then enacted his plan, which somehow succeeded, causing the exit on the fourth floor to unseal.

The next little passageway had a locked door with a Triforce engraving on the floor in front of it. Chuckling to himself at the apparent ease of this puzzle, Link stepped onto the Triforce and played Zelda's Lullaby. He didn't get a Small Key, but instead, a different door at the other end of the hallway opened. Odd. Whatever, he wasn't complaining.

The other two doors in the following chamber were sealed. Granted, one of them wasn't actually a door, but it was covered with iron bars that Link couldn't pass through. The Hylian opted to jump down into a small pit that he would be revisiting later, rolling into the crates all over the room to break them. One of them hid a rusty switch, which when triggered with the Megaton Hammer, unsealed the door.

The adjoining cubicle featured a Torch Slug and a Green Bubble that dwarfed any other Bubble Link had ever seen. Seriously, it was almost as large as the Green Bubbles that used to be in the Bottom of the Well had appeared, and that was when Link was a child.

They were easy enough to defeat, but Link was legitimately caught off-guard by the Lizalfos that charged out of the adjacent room with its sword raised. While it startled the Hylian, it wasn't able to land so much as a scratch on him, and died rather easily.

Before Link did anything else, he explored the strangely-shaped room. There was a basilisk statue with a mirror in it in the second little area that reflected light from a hole in the ceiling, and there was another one in the third area wreathed in flames. Link couldn't reach it without lighting his hands on fire, and he wasn't particularly keen on doing that. He noticed that the Compass was registering something in the room, and the Lens of Truth revealed that there was a hidden small chest in there that contained a Small Key.

He ran back across the Temple and found the last locked door, walking through it even though it contained nothing that the Compass could pick up. It contained an Iron Knuckle and several stacks of stone thrones, each of which hid a Skullwalltula behind it. Link didn't feel like fighting another Iron Knuckle, and instead backpedaled out of the room and back in the curved room.

It was only then that Link noticed the sun hiding on top of the archway that connected the first cell to the second. Shining the light on it did… apparently nothing, but closer inspection revealed that the fire surrounding the second basilisk mirror had faded away.

The Hero turned the first basilisk statue to face the second, but when he looked up, the fire had engulfed it again. Obviously, the sun switch was on a timer of some sort, just to irk him. Link undid his progress, activated the sun again, then sprinted to the other side of the chamber and rotating the second basilisk mirror so that it faced through the bars into the adjacent room. From there, he could laboriously point the first snake statue at it so that the light reflected off of both of them.

He returned to the mirror room and directed the light at another sun switch with his Mirror Shield. This caused the entire platform to start descending until it was level with the face of the smaller Sand Goddess. If Link hadn't done it already, he would have been confused, but he laboriously propped the Mirror Shield so that it reflected the light onto the Goddess's fragile face. The light was so forceful that the stone fell away, revealing the Boss Door, or something like that. Link wasn't sure, but he wasn't complaining, either.

He Longshotted off of the hanging platform and into the Sand Goddess, opening the door and readying himself for battle.

**!0*0!**

Kotake and Koume had their backs to him as Link entered the final stretch, facing an Iron Knuckle in decorative red. Link knew from experience that Nabooru was stuck inside, brainwashed by the witches into doing Ganondorf's dark deeds.

"Ho ho ho… looks like the kid is here, Kotake," Koume mentioned, swiveling her head to look at the Hero of Time.

"Indeed he is, Koume," Kotake agreed, following suit.

"What an outrageous little boy he is to intrude so boldly into our temple, don't you think?" Koume said.

"We should teach this ridiculous fellow a lesson! Hee hee hee!" Kotake decided.

They parted to reveal the Iron Knuckle in more detail, making Link privy to every little detail the suit of armor had to offer. "Oh, loyal minion… Destroy this intruder on our behalf!"

Then the witches disappeared, as the Iron Knuckle lifted itself from its throne and glanced at its hands in confusion for a while, evidently bamboozled by the lack of gargantuan axe at its disposal. It snapped its fingers and a massive halberd appeared out of thin air and into its awaiting grasp. Axe now in hand, the Iron Knuckle slowly stepped forwards, sending seismic shockwaves with each footfall it took. Link tightened his grip on the Biggoron Sword as he stood his ground, baiting the brainwashed Gerudo into taking a swing.

But the instant he had gotten within range, the Iron Knuckle froze in place, ax raised above its head in the process of swinging down. Link was confounded, bewildered, because this had never happened before. Nabooru then dropped her axe, letting it disappear into a cloud of mist, and clutched at her head with her gauntlets before throwing her helmet off of her face.

"Goddess, I'll never get used to that… Where the hell am I now?" Nabooru mumbled.

"You're in the Spirit Temple, Nabooru. Almost at the-"

The witches teleported back into the room, looks of anger etched into their wizened features.

"Well, _that_ was boring, Koume."

"Yes, quite! We should have made that brainwashing spell a little stronger, shouldn't we have…"

"We want to use the girl, not kill her, Koume…" Kotake chastised. "You old bat…"

"What did you say to me? If I'm an old bat, you're an old bat! We're twins!"

"Whatever," Kotake spat. "What do we do now?"

"Brainwash her again?" Koume suggested.

"Now, has that worked very much over the last few weeks?"

"Well… no… sister, that wasn't a very good idea after all, was it?"

"Indeed it was not," Kotake agreed. "Perhaps we should teleport her into the Haunted Wastes and watch her shrivel like a prune!"

"But she commands a lot of respect among the other Gerudo, young though she may be," Koume argued.

"Ooh ooh! We could make her watch as we tear her little lover apart!"

Link blushed slightly, but the witches were too busy squabbling amongst themselves to notice.

"Oh, that's _evil! _I love it, Kotake!" the fire witch squealed, readying a magical spell in unison with her sister. Nabooru turned to escape, but her efforts were fruitless; she was spirited off to another place in an instant, in ashes of red and blue. "Then we can brainwash her again! Now, what do we do about her little boyfriend?"

"Well, clearly he's offered himself as an oblation to the great Ganondorf, so shouldn't we let _him_ finish the job?" Kotake suggested.

"But sister! He's enacting his birthright, we can't teleport him here!"

"Who said we were bringing _that_ Ganondorf?" Kotake asked wickedly, fingers oozing dark energy as a hole in the fabric of reality began to coalesce on the floor. Koume soon joined suit, although the expression on her face clearly indicated that she had no idea what was going on.

A gauntleted right hand leapt out of the vortex before latching onto solid ground, dragging the rest of its body out. Link watched in abject horror as a masked face emerged from the void, complete with two massive white horns. Phantom Ganon, with a staff and everything.

It was just one of those days, wasn't it?

Link quickly nocked an arrow in his bow and attempted to shoot a Fire Arrow at Kotake, in an effort to stop the ritual before the evil spirit could fully free itself. Unfortunately, the arrow was blocked by the end of Koume's broomstick, which she had moved to intercept the attack. Phantom Ganon had fully extricated itself from the gap between dimensions by this point, and the portal was beginning to close before… it stopped, staying in an open state as Kotake and Koume watched with confused interest.

A gauntleted left hand leapt out of the vortex before latching onto solid ground, slowly dragging the rest of its body out of the portal. It was another Phantom Ganon; to be specific, the one Link had bested the first time he had gone through the Forest Temple before he had been sent back by the first Zelda. This theory was strengthened by the fact that it was more deteriorated than the other Phantom Ganon, and more of its body was see-through and ethereal. Somehow, it had survived the timeskip by being stranded in the gap between dimensions.

"Impossible," Link whispered, tightening his grip on the hilt of his blade.

"Oh ho! The great Ganondorf never mentioned having two copies!" Koume proclaimed. "The more, the better, don't you agree?"

"Indeed, sister," Kotake agreed. "Now, let's prepare the next spell, shall we?"

The two witch sisters apparated out of the room, leaving Link with two particularly irate Phantom Ganons. He steeled his grip on the Biggoron Sword, knowing that it wouldn't take much time to destroy either Ganon given their current partially-evaporated state.

New Phantom Ganon summoned an energy ball and flung it at Link with the end of its staff, only for the Hylian to slap it back with his own blade. This went on for some time, long enough for Link to notice the Old Phantom Ganon also readying an electric attack. The next few minutes consisted of frenzied multitasking as the Hylian sought to deflect the electric balls from both Ganons. Eventually, Old Phantom Ganon missed the electric ball and was hit by it, although it probably had more to do with the fact that it had deteriorated so much that its arms had completely evaporated. New Phantom Ganon wasted no time in literally consuming the energy of the other Phantom Ganon, forming an unholy union of two Phantom Ganons with double everything- two pairs of legs, two heads, and two sets of arms, each sprouting from the shoulders and dual-wielding both tridents. Link steeled himself and fired an arrow at the midsection of the Dual Ganon, but it flew straight through the apparition and hit the wall on the other side of the room. Dual Ganon merely laughed a throaty cackle as Link's world suddenly slowed down a good deal. By extension, this also made Dual Ganon much faster, and now the Hylian could barely keep up with the phantom's flurry of blows. Eventually, Link managed to shove the apparition off of him before cleanly chopping one of its heads off with the Biggoron Sword. Somehow, it seemed hardly fazed, and continued to fight Link as his time slowed down even more. A trident plummeted towards his torso, and the comparatively lethargic Link only barely managed to parry with his own weapon. The second trident then caught the blade and, between the two tridents holding his sword in place, wrenched it out of his grasp. Cursing his weakness despite the augmented strength of the Silver Gauntlets, the Hylian scrambled away from the apparition in a desperate bid to buy time, rummaging through his pack for the thing he needed so desperately.

The symbiotic Ganons slowly stalked towards the prone Hero, raising the Tridents above its neck in a final coup de grace. Dimly, Link could hear Ivan holler something along the lines of "No!" from somewhere out of reach; the sprite must have been affected by the time dilation as well. The pair of pronged spears began their final descent towards Link's chest, as the phantom cackled in its warped, off-kilter voice.

Then Link drew the Master Sword from within his pouch and slashed at the exposed chest of the demon.

It seized up, the anti-evil enchantments on the sacred blade doing quite a number on its already atrophying state. In a moment fueled by adrenaline, Link hauled himself off of the ground and threw himself at the beast, hands latching onto Dual Ganon's remaining head before cleanly snapping its ghost neck. The abomination suddenly started spewing acrid blue fire from both of its necks as it deflated in the center of the room, finally fizzling out of existence..

Breathing deeply, Link realized that the door was unsealed. He stalked through it, keen on ending Twinrova in much the same way.

**!0*0!**

"Look at that stupid kid! He came on his own to offer himself as a sacrifice to the great Ganondorf!" the witches' voices emanated through the empty room, mocking Link as he stood on their demented dais. The walls began to pulse with magical power; he would later learn that these were wards that prevented magical from working properly outside of the chamber.

Link laughed out loud.

Sigils began to form on two of the smaller platforms surrounding the larger raised area, one red and one blue.

"With my flame, I will burn him to the bone!" Koume roared, flying into the air as her hair lit on fire.

"With my frost, I will freeze him to his soul!" Kotake screeched, hair suddenly transmuting into a shock of ice.

They then proceeded to fly around the room in a swirling fashion, both ending just above Link and flitting around in circles before separating and readying their own magical attacks. This was bad, because Link would need to reflect their sister's energy back at them to deal effective damage. He'd done this with the Mirror Shield in the past, but back then he'd had the strength of a normal human hand to lift the heavy shield around, something he didn't have the luxury of now.

He told Ivan to keep an eye on Koume and warn him if she cast her spell. Meanwhile, he would observe Kotake and had preemptively positioned the Mirror Shield on the ground, at an angle to that her ice attack would reflect back at her.

"Link, look out!" Ivan roared. Keeping the shield standing, Link darted around it and rotated it so that its polished face was pointing towards Koume. It caught the beam of fire and bounced it right back. From there, it was a simple matter of tilting the shield face so that the attack hit Kotake instead. The ice mage squealed as the fire made contact with her frigid skin. Excellent.

Now he just had to do it about ten more times.

If the battle went the same way as it had last time, Link had about five seconds before Kotake blasted him with a barrage of ice that would freeze him on the spot. An errant glance over his shoulder confirmed this. The time traveller wasted no time in twisting his shield around and repeating the process of deflecting the bolt and then tilting it in such a way that it hit the other sister.

This went on for some time. He must have hit them at least seven times each before anything changed. And even then, it wasn't a metamorphosis into their fused form, Twinrova. Instead, the elemental witches merely took to firing their magical attacks in unison, preventing Link from exploiting their main weakness without being punished by the other. He had no choice but to dash out of the way when this happened, the two magic beams colliding with each other and cancelling out into a large puddle of lukewarm water.

"Ivan! Can you Mind Hack one of them?" the Hero begged as he threw himself off of the platform in an effort to dodge the ensuing attacks.

"Ivan can try, but it won't be very long-lasting!" Ivan replied. "They'll probably just create mental wards to counteract Ivan!"

"Do it anyway! Right before they blast their magic!" Link ordered, Longshotting back on top of the dais and moving towards one of the separate pillars nearby.

The witches readied their spells, but right as they released it, his guardian fairy collided with Kotake's cranium. Nearly instantly, he was jettisoned from the fire witch's head as she reasserted control over her mental faculties, but it was just long enough for Koume's fire to connect with her.

"Okay, this isn't working!" Kotake sputtered.

"How about we get serious, then!" Koume replied.

"Oh, OK Koume."

They glided to the center of the room and spiraled ever closer, although they began to assimilate into each other at contact. They were swiftly consumed by an ocean of red and white flames as they fused with each other.

"Kotake and Koume's Double Dynamite Attack!" they hollered in unison, slightly out of sync, as the flames suddenly burst off of Twinrova's fused body. Whereas Kotake and Koume had both been old crones with broomsticks, Twinrova herself appeared young and powerful, wielding those broomsticks as twin wands along with a disturbingly seductive smile. Link's jaw dropped on instinct upon being greeted with the sight of the Gerudo witch staring down her nose at him, taking a step back to put a little more distance between them. Twinrova herself only replied with a suggestive wink before suddenly disappearing from Link's view. Whirling around and tightening his grip on the Biggoron Sword, Link expected Twinrova to be preparing a spell to blast him with. Instead, he only saw her standing on the pillar directly behind him, almost sizing him up.

"You know, it's almost too bad we have to kill you…" she remarked, slowly sauntering towards Link. "You would have been a _fun _plaything to break."

"Leetle man?" Ivan said, almost a whisper. "_Kill _her."

"Then again, given your hero complex, there wouldn't be much to have fun with… Such a shame."

The verbal jab flew straight over Link's head. "Excuse me?"

Ivan merely looked at Link, clearly mortified at the witch's words. "Don't worry about it."

"Yes, don't worry about it, indeed," Twinrova's dual voice emanated. "All you need to do is surrender yourself, and we'll make sure your last moments are as pl-"

Before Ganondorf's surrogate mother could finish her statement, Ivan clamped his ethereal hands over her mouth. This prompted a rather negative response, as she proceeded to backhand slap the fairy all the way across the vast chamber. Then she readied a spell.

Link sprinted across the dais, only barely managing to intercept the attack with his Mirror Shield. Rather than reflect the magic bolt as it once had, the Shield actually absorbed it, flashing white to signify the ice attack that it had stored.

"Come now," Twinrova mused sultrily. "We could give you the time of your life if you just let us kill him!"

"If it means losing Ivan, I'm not going to do… whatever it is you want to do," Link declared. "It'd probably be more pain than anything else, anyway."

"Insolence," the fused being muttered angrily, flying away to another pillar and casting a fire spell. The Hero of Time, knowing that his currently stored ice spell would be nullified if he absorbed the flames, opted to scoop up Ivan in his grasp and sprint away from the area.

"Ivan, are you alright?"

"Ivan's dealt with worse," the sprite assured. "Focus on those witches!"

"It's just one witch now," Link commented as he absorbed another ice beam. "Two witches fused into one, yes, but there's only one thing to keep track of. Feel free to take a nap in my pouch or something."

"I… Tempting, but Ivan is fine."

Finally, Link had stored up three ice attacks within the Mirror Shield. This caused the shield to overload and spewed all of its pent-up magic in a solid white beam. The Hylian angled the beam towards Twinrova's body, catching the witch with her own magic. She made an odd-sounding wail as she collapsed on the dais, vulnerable to attack. Link was about to jump over to the smaller platform and hit her with the Biggoron Sword before he thought of something.

The part of Twinrova that was vulnerable to fire was still there. Couldn't he shoot a Fire Arrow and effectively nullify half of Twinrova's power? It seemed like a good idea at the time, so Link asked Ivan to give him his Bow from his pouch. He quickly drew an arrow and loosed it, only to realize too late that it was not, in fact, a Fire Arrow.

It was a Void Arrow. At least he didn't miss.

Twinrova screamed as the dark arrow impacted on her skin, lifting into the air a bit while slumping over as dark magical corruption leached her very life force. The witch then started spinning around rapidly before dissipating into a single white flame and a single red flame, which spiraled down in front of Link before transmuting into Koume and Kotake.

"Shoot! What a fresh kid! This time, we'll get _really_ serious, right Kotake?" Koume said as both sisters turned a translucent blue as holy-looking rings appeared over their heads.

"Huh? Sister, what's that over your head?" Koume asked.

"I don't know, but you have one too, Koume!"

They both looked away, looked up, then looked back down. It suddenly clicked what was happening.

"But I'm only four hundred years old!" Koume wailed.

Link started chuckling.

"And I'm only three hundred and eighty years old!"

"We're twins! Don't try to lie about your age!"

Meanwhile the Hylian and his fairy were laughing so hard that tears were coming out of their eyes.

"You must have gone senile!" Kotake roared, ignoring the guffawing duo that had defeated both of them.

"Who are you calling senile! Is that a good way to treat your older sister?!" Koume demanded.

"We're twins! How on Demise's dark earth could _you_ be older?!"

"Keeeeyaaaah! How heartless you are!"

"How can you possibly be this ungrateful!"

"You're heartless!"

"You ungrateful…"

Their end-of-life crisis was interrupted as both witches rose up and out of the Temple.

"We'll come back to haunt you!" they wailed in unison as they finally departed.

Link and Ivan, who had since recovered from their laughing fit, took a moment to drink in their success. They'd cleansed all the Temples and awoken all the Sages. All that was left was to face Ganondorf himself.

"Hang on…" Ivan suddenly questioned. "When they… How did… Do you even know what you're saying?"

"Huh?" Link asked intelligently.

"When you say… uh, _that_."

"What? The word 'huh'?"

"No! The one Ivan tells you specifically not to use."

"Oh, fuck?" Link said. "... You better not charge me for that. You asked me to say it."

"Da, that one. Do you have any idea what that means?"

"Honestly, I just heard it used in the context of adding emphasis to things, mostly from Ingo last timeline, and pieced together meaning from that. I think it's just a word accentuator that for some reason had negative connotations. Why do you ask?"

"D- don't worry about it," the fairy decided.

**!0*0!**

"Kid… let me thank you. Heheheh… look what the little kid has become in the last seven years- a competent swordsman!"

"Uh… thanks?" Link replied, rubbing the back of his neck with his Stalfos hand. "Does that mean you can stop calling me kid now?"

"Never!" Nabooru laughed.

Link wilted.

"By the way…" the Sage of Spirit continued. "I really messed up… I got brainwashed by those old hags and used by Ganondorf to carry out his evil whims… But I'm a bit confused… why didn't you show up at the Training Grounds? Did you somehow know that the witches were going to brainwash everyone?"

"Well, yes," Ivan said. "The first time we met you was the second time you met us, and you told us that we didn't appear at the Gerudo Training Grounds. Therefore, we had to make that promise and then break it to prevent a time paradox. Because if we had returned to the Gerudo Fortress and given you the Iron Gauntlets, then you wouldn't have been able to tell us that we didn't appear. We had to break our promise in order to make the future happen the way it did… does… is?"

"It's confusing," Link summarized. "The less you think about it, the better."

"I suppose that makes sense… You know, it's kind of funny, isn't it? That a person like _me_ could turn out to be the Sage of Spirit? And now I'm going to fight as one of them? Heh… I'm going to make them pay for what they did to me!"

"That's the spirit," Ivan commented.

"Kid… alright, fine, Link, the Hero of Time… instead of keeping that promise I made all that time ago, I give you this Medallion! Take it!"

Link received the Spirit Medallion. Normally, he would have been whisked out of the Sacred Realm at this point, but he would have to deal with a short speech from the rotund Sage of Light before that happened, due to the fact that all of the Sages had been reawakened.

"If only I knew you'd turn out to be such a handsome man… I should have kept that promise I made all that time ago…"

The Gerudo descended into her pedestal in a similar fashion to how she had appeared, as Rauru emerged from the Light pedestal to address Link himself.

"Link, the hero!" Rauru boomed, preventing the swordsman from getting a word in edgewise. "Finally, all of us, the six Sages, have been awakened! The time for the final showdown with the King of Darkness has come! Before that, though, you ought to meet with the one who has been waiting for you… at the Temple of Time…"

Rauru then faded from his sight as the Hero of Time was returned to the mortal plane.

He touched down on the pedestal right by the Desert Colossus. It sank in that there was only one last push to go through. Ganon's Tower. Then he was done with all of this hero business. He could settle down somewhere, although that somehow didn't appeal to him. He would think that he would relish normalcy, but upon introspection he decided that it just didn't fit. Maybe he could rebuild the Hyrulean Knights after Zelda was reinstated, or something like that. It didn't matter now. All that Link cared about was that the choice was his own, and that alone was paradise.

**Okay, so I was contemplating doing MQ Gerudo Training Grounds, but I've decided that it wouldn't work. First off, it's completely optional in the context of the game. Second off, I feel like in the context of the story, it serves only as filler and really doesn't need to be included to weave a polished story.**

**NOOTTD:**

**Utarefson is Nosferatu spelled backwards. The spell Utarefson is basically the Nosferatu spell from the Fire Emblem series, and Nosferatu is a rather famous vampire. I figured I would work him into Hylian history somehow, and I did.**

**All that Twinrova dialogue in the boss fight extended from that one wink. Basically, I think she views Link like a piece of meat specially prepared for her to dine on. It's sultry enough to be disturbing ingame, but I feel like it wasn't dialed up to its fullest extent. That's where the speech came from.**

**Review Please! And if you can come up with a good name for the Biggoron Sword that's better than my current idea, you can suggest it and I'll maybe implement it!**


	22. Chapter 21: The Runback

**This chapter will not include MQ Ganon's Tower.**

**Now, before you all take up your pitchforks, I'm just going to say this: Ganon's Tower ended up being really, really long. Like, so long that it outclassed the wait-time for Half-Life 3. Putting it in a chapter with all of the stuff in here just turned out to be too clunky for a single chapter, and it was just easier and more logical to divvy them up into two chapters. Besides, I wanted to build hype for it.**

**Also, since nobody tried to come up with a name for the Biggoron Sword, I just used the one I have anyway. Oh well.**

**RRRP:**

_ChangelingRin (FF): _I never said they didn't. In fact, I adore Twinrova's theme.

The E rating didn't stop Nintendo from putting Dead Hand in the game, so… I don't know about that. But yeah, it would be a bit weird to include stuff about Nabooru's trauma and then not talk about Link's likelihood for chronophobia (the fear of time).

And yes, lotsa innuendos this chapter.

_Anon (FF): _Thanks!

_OlafTheDestroyer (FF): _I have this weird tendency towards the grandiose. I tried to get it out of my system in the first few chapters. Regarding tonal whiplash… well, a bit. I'm not writing all of this in one sitting, and I make sure to take a few days of break in between chapters. Maybe that's why. Regarding the formatting issues, that's because sometimes I have to update off of my phone if I don't have access to my computer that particular night. It's easier to upload off my phone in those circumstances, but I can't center my !0*0!s.

Thank you very much for the positive feedback! Dual Ganon has no right to exist, but that makes it more fun to write because I can go just about anywhere with it. Also, FINALLY, someone recognizes our Lord and Savior Nierak!

Thank you! And yeah, I do wonder where all the old reviewers went. Like, FCL, Ri2, PsyKhoS1s… pretty much everyone on AO3… what happened to you guys? Also, why did you leave the same review twice? Did FFnet screw up?

_Chapter XXI: The Calm Before The Storm_

It was overcast when Link teleported into the cemetery, but it wasn't raining. This was unusual, as every other instance in which he'd been to this particular area, it had been storming. That even extended to when he was physically a child, before Ganondorf's dark influence had consumed Hyrule. Not that Link was complaining, of course, merely intrigued.

He decided to pass it off as mere happenstance, ditching the graveyard and entering the central plaza of the Sheikah town. Link didn't remember the place ever being this… lively. It was still evident that the town lived in something of a post-apocalyptic wasteland based on the size of the graveyard and the sunken looks in people's eyes. But those same orbs also radiated hope. Everything was starting to look up, from the ceasing of the eruption, to the cleansing of the water, to the destruction of Bongo Bongo, and even the Gerudo's freedom from Twinrova. Of course, salvation had arrived nearly six years late, but a candle would rival the sun when viewed by a person lost in a cave.

Most everyone seemed to know Link, or had at least seen him in and around Kakariko. Nobody had apparently connected him to the child who confronted Ganondorf seven years prior, though. For those reasons, few people really batted that much of an eye when Link passed them by, save the guards. The knights, having witnessed his actions at Old Lon Ranch, seemed to stare at Link with some sort of awe and respect. The Hero could tolerate that. It was the incessant fawning over his deeds that really irked him.

Naturally, that fawning would probably be occurring had Rusl informed the public of Link's true nature, let alone Malon. Thankfully, it seemed that neither had actively shared his life story, which he was grateful for. The last thing he wanted was for a crowd to follow him wherever he went.

That would be a nightmare.

He found himself at New Lon Ranch, and it looked the best he'd ever seen it. Despite Anjou's concerns, the wheat was growing just fine in the cooler temperatures of early winter, and would be ready for harvest next spring. The animals looked healthier than usual, and the carpenters had returned to Gerudo Valley to construct the bridge.

This left Malon, Anjou, and her brother as the sole residents of the farm, and the former was there to greet him as he entered. She had Epona with her for some reason, and was probably surveying her handiwork when Link appeared.

"Oh, thank the Goddesses, Link," she exclaimed, running out of the fields to meet her friend. "Is it over?"

"Yes and no," Link started. "All of the Temples are cleansed, yes. All that's left to do is meet with the princess and bring the fight to Ganondorf. After that, I'll come back- for good."

"Does it have to be you, Link? You've done so much for everyone. Frankly, I think you've done enough already. You deserve to relax, don't you?" she asked, an odd tone lacing itself into her voice.

"Mal, I can't just... not do this," the Hylian said. "I'm the only one who can wield the blade capable of ending Ganon's reign of terror. Anyone else would probably fail."

"At least tell me you'll rest a spell before you do anything rash? You really do need it," Malon stated.

"I'd hate to be a bother," Link asserted. "All this time, I've kind of been forcing your hospitality onto me… I can always just rent a room in the inn."

"Fairy Boy," she said assertively. "You're _never_ a bother to have. Besides, Anjou and Grawg are with their father rebuilding the bridge to Gerudo Valley, so you'd be the opposite of a detriment."

"... I guess I could stay the night… but only if I can ride Epona to Castletown tomorrow at dawn."

"Noon."

"Deal," Link sighed.

"Come on, Link. Let's get inside. It's going to snow today," Malon said, ushering the Hero of Time inside.

"How do you know?" Link asked, glancing up at the sky. The sun was starting to peek out from behind the clouds.

"I was born and raised on a farm. You start to pick up on weather signals," she said dismissively, closing the door behind her.

**!0*0!**

True to Malon's word, it was snowing by just before noon. The Gorons who had come down from their City to sell things quickly packed up shop and moved back, as the freezing temperatures would have adverse effects on their health.

"So, I've been wondering…"

"Hm?" Link asked.

"I understand if this isn't something you'd like to talk to me about, but… what happened with me last time all of this happened?" Malon asked, sounding oddly vulnerable.

"First timeline, huh… Well, none of my bad memories were associated with you, so I wouldn't altogether mind sharing it with you. As you've probably guessed, the only real difference is that Ganondorf didn't destroy Old Lon Ranch and half of the other towns in Hyrule. This made Kakariko less of a refugee camp than it is. The water wasn't toxic to drink, and there wasn't a food shortage of any sort.

"Lon Lon Ranch specifically… I don't know many of the details, but it was the first place I went to after I got out of the Temple of Time. I figured you'd be a good source for what happened over the last seven years, not to mention how nice seeing a familiar face would be. When I got there, though… Ingo had taken over the Ranch."

"Really?" she asked, more like her usual self. "Ingo never really struck me as that sort of person. Where was my father in all of this?"

"I think Ganondorf had somehow manipulated Ingo into running Talon out of the Ranch and into Kakariko, where I found him sleeping in some house. I woke him up with one of Anjou's Pocket Cuccos later, but that's not important."

"Sounds like him…" Malon grumbled.

"Ingo had taken over the Ranch, and basically taught me how to ride a horse for ten Rupees at a time. I didn't catch much of a glimpse of you until I looked in the stables, where you were tending to the horses.

"Anyway, Ingo eventually bet me fifty Rupees that I couldn't beat him in a lap around the corral," Link continued. "Even with a head start, I beat him because I had Epona and, well, Epona runs really fast. He then said that if I could beat him again, I could keep my horse. Once again, I crushed him by about three seconds. Then Ingo's all like, 'You can have the horse, but I'll never let you leave the ranch!' So I just jumped over the gates and practically trampled his stupid moustachioed face into the ground. He'd wanted to sell Epona to Ganondorf because she was the best horse on the farm, and Ganondorf was the source of most of Lon Lon's income at that time. After I left, though, you somehow wrested control over the ranch from Ingo and turned him back to his normal self. Then I sent Talon back and everything sort of went back to normal.

"You always gave me this odd look, though. Like you wanted something from me. And you were always, like, sort of showing off around me, which I didn't get. And you were always really a bright spot, even when others… well, weren't. You were the only person who'd listen to me when I ranted about the Water Temple. But whenever I asked about it, you'd always change the subject. I never figured out why."

"Looks like leetle man was just as dense in that timeline as you are in this one," Ivan commented.

"What the- I'm not _dense!_" Link argued vehemently. "You know firsthand how perceptive I am!"

"Not in this situation, though. Even Ivan figured out the meaning behind that, and Ivan is a fairy. Not to mention how Ivan wasn't even there when it happened."

"Can it, Ivan!" Malon shot back, mortified.

"Can someone please explain to me what's going on?" Link asked. "Ivan is making fun of me and I don't get it!"

Malon sighed. "Goddesses, I hate that fairy. Okay, Link. Look at me, alright?"

"Sure?" Link agreed, more a question than a statement.

And then she pressed her lips into his.

Coherent thought became impossible for a time. All that existed at that moment was the two of them, locked at the mouth as they pressed against each other. Link was aware of the passion that Malon was putting into the kiss, and understood that he was pushing back with equal fervor, if not more, but failed to comprehend what was happening in the moment. When they finally pulled away, both parties were breathing deeper than before, slowly regaining consciousness of the world around them. The first thing that either party noticed was Ivan's deep sigh of "Finally!"

Link got up, found an empty bottle, and shoved his partner into it. He'd let him out later.

"Sorry about him," Link apologized. "But what we just did- was that-"

"Yes. I… I've been wanting to say this for a long time… probably longer than I've even known you, given how you described me last timeline… but… Link… I'm in love with you."

He'd heard the word 'love' being thrown around a lot by a number of people in his tenure as a living being. To be quite honest, he had no idea what it really meant. It could mean an innumerable amount of things. But he was certain that it was a good thing to have and be in.

"I'm not quite sure what that means, Mal," Link started, wrapping her in an embrace. "But if it means what I think it does… I love you too."

She practically melted in his grip, pressing her head into the crook of his neck. "Well, what do you think it means?"

"I…" Link started, before a pregnant pause ensued. "I think it means to be friends with someone, but… more. To be closer than inseparable. Like that one couple… what are their names? Sugar and Pumpkin?"

"Honey and Darling?" Malon clarified.

"Them, yeah. They're in love, and it's sort of like that. Just… not as cheesy. Am I right?"

"Yeah," Malon breathed. "You're right, Link. You're absolutely right."

**!0*0!**

Much of the rest of his stay passed like that, although Ivan was let out of the bottle for most of it. They talked, relaxed, and enjoyed the company of the other. It was, by far, the most comfortable experience Link had ever had- bar none.

Unfortunately, all good things had to come to an end, and this was no different. At noon the next day, Link remembered he could just play the Prelude of Light to warp to the Temple of Time instantly, and did so, teleporting straight into the decaying cathedral.

"I have been waiting for you, Link."

"Sorry I took so long," Link said. "I needed to take care of a few loose ends."

"No, don't be. I understand. Anyway, you have overcome many hardships and awakened six Sages. I understand that that's an understatement, but…"

"We get it. It's fine," Ivan assured.

"Now there is one last challenge- a final battle with Ganondorf, King of Evil. But before that… I have things to tell you that you alone can hear. Please listen…"

"If this is about the fact that I have the Triforce of Courage because Ganonwhoref broke the Triforce by touching it, then yes. I get that," Link said. "I also know that you have the Triforce of Wisdom and are secretly the princess. So…"

"I keep forgetting that you know everything," the ex-princess grumbled. "How do you do that, anyway?"

"Don't worry about it," Link said quickly. "Also, if you shed your disguise, Ganondorf will capture you. So maybe we shouldn't do that…"

"Actually, that was the plan. Get captured by Ganondorf, that is," Zelda revealed.

"Excuse me?" Link ejaculated.

"You see, I can only give you the Light Arrows, the weapon that can stun Ganondorf long enough to deal the final blow, with all of my magical power. The entire point of the Sheik disguise was to mute that magic power, to protect myself from the King of Demons. Therefore, I have to dispel Sheik to give you the Light Arrows. Besides, Ganondorf wants the full Triforce, and needs all of us to piece it together. Being captured by invoking the taboo would bring the Triforce of Wisdom to Ganondorf, and then he'll be even more bent on procuring the Triforce of Courage. This will make him intentionally drop the wards around his castle and allow you to face Ganondorf. If we never get rid of that shield, being disguised won't help us- or Hyrule- in the slightest. The Sages won't be able to allow you entrance to the Tower if he doesn't drop those wards. Do you understand?"

Link blinked, taking all of this in. "You've really thought this out, haven't you?"

"I have the Triforce of Wisdom for a reason," Sheik laughed. She then went through a series of complicated hand movements, allowing the Triforce of Wisdom to shine through her facade and reveal her true nature as the rightful princess of Hyrule.

She was identical to how Link expected her to look, save the fact that she was missing her Triforce earrings. She also had a more serious edge in her eyes and features, things that were not marred by the mask of Sheik. Link definitely preferred this Zelda to his first. His first Zelda was a little more dainty, a little less rough around the edges. She still certainly was all of those things, but this Zelda was more so, and felt more… real because of it.

"It is I, Princess of Hyrule, Zelda," she said, specifically to invoke the hex Ganondorf had set up. "Once again, I apologize for meeting you in disguise, but it was necessary to hide from the King of Evil. Please forgive me.

"On that day, seven years ago, Ganondorf attacked Hyrule Castle. I saw you as I escaped with my attendant, Impa. I thought it would be best to entrust the Ocarina to you… I thought that would be our best chance. As long as you had the Ocarina in your possession, I thought Ganondorf could never enter the Sacred Realm, but… then something we could never have expected happened… Ganondorf forced you to draw the Master Sword by threatening the lives of countless people. And after you opened the Door of Time, a choice I fully agree was the right one, the Master Sword sealed you away in the Sacred Realm for seven years…"

Zelda sighed, looking morose. "Your spirit remained there, and the Triforce fell into Ganondorf's hands. He went on to conquer the Sacred Realm… and he became the King of Evil. The Sacred Realm became a world of pure darkness. All of this is an unfortunate coincidence. So I passed myself off as a Sheikah and hoped that you would return. I waited for seven years…"

"But now I'm back," Link stated.

"And now you're back. It's time for the reign of the King of Evil to end! The Sages will open the sealed door and lure Ganondorf back into the Evil Realm. Thus, Ganondorf the Evil King will have effectively vanished from Hyrule altogether. Link, in order to do this, I need your courage again. You must protect me as I do my part. To meet that goal, I shall bequeath you with a weapon that can penetrate the Evil King's defenses… the power given to the chosen ones… the sacred Light Arrow!"

A pool of holy energy coalesced around the princess as she drew from her magical reserves, a massive sphere of raw energy appearing in her outstretched arms. The light then burst off in a wave of brightness, temporarily blinding the Hero of Time. As he recovered his vision, the Light Arrows floated into his grasp. This was the weapon that could defeat Ganondorf himself. This was the critical juncture. This was it.

As if to accentuate his statement, the entire Temple went dark as an ominous rumbling shook dust and dirt down from the upper echelons of the cathedral. On instinct, Link drew the Stygian Light- the new name for the Biggoron Sword- and clutched it tight as Zelda let out a faux little gasp.

"That rumbling- it can't be?!" she exclaimed before glancing at Link to let him know she was faking her shock. Out of nowhere, a strange pink diamond shape coalesced around Zelda, and despite its pure-looking facade, Link knew from experience that it was Ganondorf's work. He punched the beautiful cage for emphasis, just to ensure that Ganondorf didn't think that this was all part of the plan.

"Princess Zelda… you foolish traitor!" the Demon King's gravelly voice emanated throughout the once-sacred Temple. "Loath as I am to admit it, I must commend you for evading my pursuit for seven long years. But you let your guard down… I knew you would appear if I let this insignificant little _shitstain_ run around like a headless Cucco!"

Zelda looked about in fake fear before her prison slowly started to rise against the pull of gravity. "My only mistake was to slightly underestimate the ability of this little weakling… well, the ability of the Triforce of Courage, anyway! But I care not. With the Triforce of Wisdom I obtain from Zelda… I will truly rule reality! Boy! If you really want to rescue your precious Zelda, or if you recognize the hopelessness of it all, come to my castle! I'll be happy to offer you your respite- right through your gut!"

Ganondorf's disgusting laughter echoed throughout the Temple as Zelda slowly faded out, teleported straight into the belly of the beast. Link could only watch in horror as the princess disappeared. He sheathed the Stygian Light and left the Temple of Time, ignoring the Redeads in the Castle Town central plaza, and beelined for what was once Hyrule Castle.

The entire place had been transformed into a nightmare. Corpses of Hyrulean guards littered the earth, accompanied by the decayed bodies of a few moblins. Where Hyrule Castle proper had once stood was replaced with a Gothic citadel made purely from stone that shared a color with the void. Gargoyles perched themselves on the walls of Ganon's Tower, as if keeping watch. The whole thing was suspended over a vat of magma, which also served to illuminate the floating castle from below with an angry red glow. The whole thing was just as surreal as it had been the last time Link had seen it, and just as horrifying. Without the help of the Sages, there was no way he could possibly enter the Tower.

"Link, can you hear me? It's Rauru, the Sage of Light!" Rauru's tinny voice echoed inside Link's head. "We six will gather our power to create a bridge to the castle where Ganondorf dwells. The keep, which is known and feared as Ganon's Tower, is protected by six evil barriers. Bring down the barriers, and save the Princess!"

Once the Sage's little speech was over, a dazzling array of colored lights descended from the sky, each colored the identifying shade of one of the Sages. The result was an ornate rainbow bridge that clashed so much with Ganon's Tower that it was honestly funny. Link examined the bridge, admiring the handiwork, but nearly fell into the lava below when he heard an Elder Skullfos scream from somewhere in Castle Town. The Hylian wasted no time in darting into the Tower, where destiny awaited.

**It's all coming to a head now.** **It's honestly kind of humbling to realize just how far this work as come. Like, it's already more than 150,000 words, which is mind-boggling. I'm also stunned with the realization that it's almost over. I mean, there's only MQ Ganon's Tower left to do, and that basically entails breaking the Barriers and fighting Dorf. And after that… I don't know what I'll do. And I'm okay with that.**

**NOOTTD: Nadie.**

**Review Please!**


	23. Chapter 22: The Adamant Tower

**The last dungeon chapter in the story. Wow. It's really hard to believe, but here we are.**

**RRRP:**

_ChangelingRin (FF): _Thanks! I actually have a tendency to be extremely verbose to the point of being annoying, so I do think I overcompensate a bit. The second reason for my succinctness is a bit more thematic; I don't really need to spend ten pages describing each brick in a room, because Link isn't paying attention to those details. He's done all of this before, and now he's doing it again as quickly as possible. He doesn't have time to look closely at a room he's already analyzed in the first adventure. In new areas, like Khalonir and (our Lord and Savior) Nierak's hideout, I do take that time, because Link doesn't already know them. That's the reason I go so quickly. But give me some credit; I'm averaging about 7K words per chapter, which isn't half bad.

_OlafTheDestroyer_ (FF): FFnet hiccuped, I see. I think it's really funny that you call me the J.J. Abrams of Zelda fics, what with Episode 9 coming out [I saw it, and it was… not as good as episode 7]. Maybe that's saying something about my (lack of) skill as a writer. I will take it as a compliment.

I also think it's funny that everyone's gaga over the Malink ship but nobody batted an eye at Nierak, our Lord and Savior. Please, somebody talk about Nierak in the reviews, I really want to talk about that Zora dark mage.

_Anon (FF)_: To be fair, I wrote the entire story beforehand and am uploading it from a Google Doc now. If I was uploading as I wrote, it'd probably be a dead fic because of all that strain.

_Chapter XXII: Barrier With Us_

The ornate, velvet carpet squished comfortably underneath Link's combat boots. The whole entrance hall gave off an aura of foreboding that sent uncontrollable shivers coursing down his spine. The Hylian didn't really pay much attention to it, instead opting to reflexively shoot down the pair of gargantuan Green Bubbles flying towards the door. They weren't all that much of a trouble to deal with. This could not be said, however, of the Iron Knuckle that guarded the sealed door that would lead to the central chamber that connected to all of the barriers. There was also a Spike bouncing back and forth between two short pillars with an Armos on top. Link procured two Bombs and lobbed them at the statues, destroying both in a matter of seconds. All that was left was the Iron Knuckle, which Link defeated in a similar fashion to how he had bested the other armor suits he had encountered. Once the axe-wielding suit of armor was destroyed, the door unsealed.

"Okay," Link thought out loud. "I can't do either the Fire or Light Barriers because I have yet to acquire the Golden Gauntlets. Last time, they were in the Shadow Barrier, so it would be best to do that one first. Shall we?"

"Hm… if you think it'll get this done faster," Ivan yawned. "Ivan is tired. Holler if you need Ivan."

Hang on.

Didn't fairies not need sleep?

Ignoring his partner for now, Link made his way to the purple light streaming into the central tower that stemmed from the door marked with the same insignia that was on the Shadow Medallion. He stepped through, ready for anything, and instantly shot down another massive Green Bubble. He then took to observing the room, trying to figure out what he needed to do. There was a lit torch next to him that didn't do anything, two pillars, an invisible platform that oscillated between the rightmost pillar and a larger central platform, and a Bomb Flower on the leftmost pillar. To add to the confusion, a number of Silver Rupees were scattered all about the room. He checked the expanse with the Lens of Truth again, just to make sure he wasn't missing anything. He wasn't.

The Hero of Time paced around the room, thinking that maybe a different angle would help him. He discovered nothing. To vent his frustration, he took his Fairy Bow and shot the Bomb Flower, whose explosion caused another small crate to fall onto the rightmost platform, which stumped Link for half a second before he remembered that he could Longshot to it. So he did, and then promptly threw on the hover Boots before dashing above the abyss, barely managing to grab onto the invisible platform as it started to float away. He took a pit stop to grab the Silver Rupee on the left platform before doubling back to the large platform, ignoring the Beamos that guarded it. He killed it after he realized that there was a Silver Rupee hiding beneath it.

The Hylian was confused on how to progress until he tripped over a torch embedded in the stone and nearly catapulted himself into the void. He shot the torch with a Fire Arrow, causing a crystal platform to appear between his platform and the next one, which housed quite a few more Beamos. He only needed one Bomb to destroy them, as the ensuing explosion of one caused the death of the other.

He was rather close to the end of the room, and had yet to find the Golden Gauntlets. There was a guillotine suspended in space and continuously slamming down on thin air, but the Lens of Truth showed Link the true pathway. There was also an invisible path to another small platform, which held a Beamos and hid another Silver Rupee. He took care of the Beamos and grabbed the last Rupee, causing the door to the Seal room to open. As Link was doubling back, however, he noticed a gold eye switch near the base of the platform that had once housed a single Beamos. Shooting it revealed a small chest, which contained a Small Key. He wasn't complaining, but he had been hoping that it contained the Golden Gauntlets.

Somewhat dejectedly, Link traversed the massive gap and entered the Seal room. He fired a Light Arrow at the bulbous orange tumor that served to indicate where the Barrier resided. It exploded into a shower of sparks, and was swiftly replaced by a hovering Impa.

"The Shadow Barrier is dispelled! Please save the princess!" she demanded before transforming into a purple light that transported Link back to the central hub. He looked up as the vermillion beam shrunk and dissipated. But he still didn't have the Golden Gauntlets!

"Must be in a different place," Link lamented. "Let's just do what we can."

Ivan mumbled something from inside of Link's pouch. It sounded positive.

**!0*0!**

Link entered the Forest Barrier and was immediately beset by a pair of Stalfos, quickly summoning their blades and attempting to run Link through with the jagged bronze swords. Fortunately, they had the courtesy of attacking Link one at a time, and a few quick Spin Attacks was enough to deal with the duo. Defeating the Stalfos caused the exit to unseal, permitting the Hylian to progress.

"Hang on! Ivan thinks there is something up on top of those decorations above the door," Ivan said, having emerged from Link's pocket.

"I don't see anything," the Hero of Time stated, but Longshotted up anyway using a torch. True to Ivan's word, there was a Small Key just sitting there, but when Link moved to grab it, he was blown off of the platform by a fan. Mildly infuriated, he tried again, and successfully nabbed the Small Key. Adding the key to his repertoire, Link then entered the second room of the Forest Barrier.

Like the Shadow Barrier, this chamber consisted of several small platforms rising out of a seemingly bottomless abyss. Unlike the Shadow Barrier, however, this room was much smaller, tinted green rather than purple, and filled with even more Beamos than the Shadow Barrier. There was also one Armos and four gargoyle fans on either side of the room, flanking each door.

There was a frozen eye switch hiding in one of the fans. When it was activated, a small chest dropped out of the sky on the comparatively large platform on Link's right. There was also a different eye switch in a different fan that was right next to Link, which summoned another small chest right next to Link.

Longshotting to the small chest would be stupid, as it would probably awaken the Armos and incur the Beamos' wrath. It was infinitely more intelligent to allow the fan's air current to push him onto the leftmost platform and deal with the Beamos there before systematically destroying the other metal sentries scattered around the room. Dealing with that first Beamos, however, would be an issue, as it seemed to face in Link's direction whenever the fans were on. If the Hylian ever allowed the winds to carry him, the Beamos would just shoot him out of the sky.

Unless…

"Ivan, do I have any twine in my pack?" Link asked.

"What are you planning?" Ivan questioned, recognizing the mildly insane grin gracing Link's features.

"I'm thinking that I could strap a bomb onto one of my Arrows and deal with the Beamos that way," Link answered nonchalantly.

"You scare Ivan sometimes," the fairy said. "You don't have any twine, but you have some gauze from back when you wrapped up your eye."

"That'll do."

Ivan gave him the bandages while Link procured an explosive. He spent a few minutes tying the bomb to the arrow before lighting the bomb. It then occurred to Link what he was doing: attaching a live explosive to an arrow and then trying to fire it. As it turned out, a bomb weighed much more than an arrow, and so it was much more difficult to get good distance. After a few tries and all of his gauze, the Hero of Time finally managed to take down that pesky Beamos. He then wasted no time in donning his Hover Boots and diving into the airstream created by the fan, which blew him all the way onto that platform. From there, it was relatively easy to bomb the rest of the enemies in the room.

He had hoped that killing all the Beamos would unseal the door, but it actually seemed to do nothing at all. All that the Hero of Time had to go off of was the blue button on a crystal lattice, suspended in space below a Block of Time. That didn't appear to help him very much, to be honest.

"Any ideas?"

"Hm… Oh. Ivan sees. Remember that one room in the Spirit Temple? The one with all the Blocks of Time that hid a box in the ceiling?"

"So, it wants me to break how ceilings work again? All right, I guess," Link sighed, playing the Song of Time.

Nothing happened.

"Ivan thinks you have to be standing on this little platform right here," Ivan said, indicating a tiny bit of floor situated right in front of a fan.

"But the fan will blow me off!"

"Then wear the Iron Boots!"

There was silence for a moment. "Oh," Link said lamely, donning the Iron Boots after he landed on that platform. True to Ivan's word, he wasn't buffeted off of the circle and into the void by the strong winds. He played the Song of Time twice, causing an Armos statue to fall out of the Block of Time and onto the blue button. Only then did the door unseal.

"Goddesses, I hate this place," Link grumbled, jumping over the gap and shooting the Barrier itself with a Light Arrow.

"The Forest Barrier is dispelled!" said Saria, who had teleported in as soon as Link shot the orange tumor in the Barrier. "Hurry up, Link!"

She then turned into a green light and consumed Link in a flash of white, conveniently teleporting him back to the central hub.

**!0*0!**

The Water Barrier was not modeled after the Water Temple. For some Goddess-forsaken reason, it was fashioned in the likeness of the Ice Cavern. This meant that it housed the same infuriating blue fire and red ice that had gotten on Link's nerves so much in the actual Ice Cavern. It meant that he had to release all of his Fairies, dump out his Green Potion, and fill all three of his bottles with blue fire, which was just a waste of time and bottles. He'd have to swing by a Fairy Fountain and a potion shop later to refill.

Not that it mattered right then; the altar of blue fire was consumed by a massive black waterspout that blocked all access. Try as he might, Link simply couldn't reach far enough into the corrupted water to get at the flames, which would grant him access to the rest of the Water Barrier.

He dealt with the trio of Freezards that coalesced from the icy ground, but they failed to diminish the water spout. Desperate for some way to progress and refusing to back down from the Barrier despite its frigid temperature, the Hero of Time perused his surroundings. The way forwards was not only locked, but hidden behind an outgrowth of red ice. There were several other red ice crystals, which hid a chest and heart container that Link didn't need. Several jagged icicles scattered the ground and ceiling, and looked prone to falling. But none of that really captured Link's attention. He was too busy staring, slack-jawed, at the Dead Hand's hand rooted in the corner of the room. The Lens of Truth didn't reveal a telltale black circle on the floor that heralded the Dead Hand's body. He'd have to brave being grabbed to defeat the living corpse.

Swallowing his reservations, Link charged straight into the rotting hand. As soon as he was in its range, it descended to clutch Link's head, which conveniently protected him from the mass of icicles that fell from the roof. Mystifyingly, no Dead Hand body uprooted itself from the frozen earth below to gnaw at the nape of his neck. As soon as the Dead Hand let go, Link vented his range by slicing it down with the Stygian Light, hitting the wall behind it in the process. Miraculously, there was a resounding chime as the geyser retracted, allowing Link to fill as many bottles as he could. He filled all of them, figuring he'd need it for the next room, and melted the red ice blocking the door.

The next room was an block-sliding puzzle on ice, but it also featured a number of Silver Rupees and some elemental Keese. A quick shot with the Longshot was enough to defeat them. As soon as he jumped down into the room, however, he was bitten by an invisible Keese, which then met its end at the hands of the Stygian Light.

"There is a strange enchantment in this room…" Ivan said. "If you leave the room, it'll go back to the way it was before you entered."

"Really?" Link said, observing the two ice cubes he was tasked to push. There was also a single hole just adjacent to one of the ice blocks, but that would be too easy. After grabbing the Silver Rupee that Ivan pointed out was in that hole, Link pushed the furthest block into the hole before pushing the next block over it. From there, it was only two pushes away from setting the cube in a little alcove, granting Link access to another Silver Rupee. It was hidden under a lattice of red ice, which he melted. Grabbing that last Silver Rupee, among the others scattered around the room, caused the last door to unseal.

But therein lied the problem. The parapet on which the door was situated was protected by a massive wall of red ice which prevented the swordsman from climbing on top. Worse, because of the properties of blue fire, Link had no way of melting that ice without breaking one of his bottles, which he didn't particularly want to do. Dejectedly, Link made his way back to the first room, refilled on blue fire, and then repeated the puzzle again, this time making a point to melt the wall of red ice first so that he didn't forget. He had to push one of the blocks into the ledge to do it, but then shoving the block into the abyss caused it to respawn where it had started. From there, it was possible to finish the open the door and actually walk through it this time.

Ruto appeared as soon as the Barrier was shot by a Light Arrow. "The Water Barrier is dispelled! Hurry up!"

**!0*0!**

He was still missing the Golden Gauntlets.

Link lamented this as he entered the Spirit Barrier, donning his Goron Tunic when he noticed the presence of Fire Keese and lava slugs. They were easy enough to defeat, and Link was able to destroy them without taking so much as a scratch. However, nothing happened when he finally killed them all, which was odd. There was nothing in the room save a group of Iron Knuckle thrones situated around the center of the room.

"Ah!" Ivan proclaimed suddenly, flying to the top of the thrones and looking down. "There's a switch down here!"

"Well, I can't get to that!" Link complained. "I couldn't break those thrones, even in the last timeline when I still had two functioning arms!"

"What else does leetle man suggest!" Ivan shot back.

Link paused for a second. "Fine," he spat, drawing the Megaton Hammer and spending the next fifteen minutes slamming the thrones with blow after blow. And for all his labors, nothing happened. He was infuriated, and turned back to the door to attempt the Fire Barrier or something, when he noticed the closed Eye Switch over the door. Link shot it with an arrow, causing it to open. However, it didn't appear to do anything. But when Link turned around, he discovered that an Iron Knuckle had somehow appeared, motionless.

An idea began to form in the Hero's head. He poked the Iron Knuckle with his blade, prompting it to suddenly come to life. Link, meanwhile, was already proceeding to run away, hiding behind the congregation of thrones in the center of the room. The suit of armor ponderously made its way towards the center of the room and proceeded to smash the seats into smithereens with its massive halberd. This conveniently revealed the switch, which turned out to be rusted red. Link backed away, luring the Iron Knuckle away from the center of the room, before sprinting around it and bashing the switch down with the Megaton Hammer, unsealing the door.

The next room contained a large Green Bubble, which was easy enough to kill. It was hiding a small chest filled with Bombchus. The Hero of Time knew what to do. He took one of the Bombchus and carefully placed it so that it would climb up an iron gate, through a small hole at the top, and hit a diamond switch on the other side of the room. Or…

The diamond switch was situated on the ceiling, right by the gap in the gate. Couldn't he just fire an arrow and hit the switch that way?

He nocked an arrow, drew back weakly, and loosed it. It intentionally traveled slowly, allowing gravity to bend the projectile's trajectory through the gap straight into the switch. Hitting the switch caused the opening of the next door, which Link graciously walked through.

He killed the large Green Bubble on the other side of the room, as well as the pair of Redeads that occupied the short hall in between the two halves of the room. The last part of the chamber was a small amphitheater, with several sun switches strewn around the room. There was also a hole leading to some kind of light source, blocked by a web. He shot a fire arrow at the cobweb to ignite it, allowing all of the light to spill into the room.

There were seven sun faces and the last door in the Spirit Barrier. Link laboriously unslung the Mirror Shield and dropped it onto the ground before tilting it in the direction of the sun face to the right of the door. He'd do it clockwise for ease's sake. It burned, and summoned a small chest that contained nothing but a little draught of health.

The next sun caused absolutely nothing. What a letdown.

The next sun switch burned, creating another small chest with a Small Key in it.

Nothing happened when Link burned the next sun switch.

Another small health potion was hiding in the small chest the next sun switch created.

The next sun was hidden above the entryway. Link was half convinced that this would trigger the door, but instead, a Wallmaster was summoned by the following sun switch. While easy enough for Link to deal with at this point, it was still annoying.

There was only one sun switch left. Link realized with startling clarity that he still had yet to find the Golden Gauntlets. This sun had to unseal the last door, or else this area was physically impossible. Tense, he burned the last sun switch, which created a large chest. The Hylian stared at it, confused. How was he supposed to open the sealed door? Was it impossible?

Link took the Golden Gauntlets inside, regardless. Now came the annoying process of figuring out how to unseal the door.

He spent the better part of an hour perusing every inch of the rest of the Spirit Barrier and found nothing. No switches, no enemies, no nothing. He'd shot them all, burned them all, and killed them all.

"Hang on," Ivan rumbled. "Go back to that last area."

Link did so.

"Ah, yes! Look at that Spirit Temple insignia."

"The one over the door? What about it?"

"Is that a sun switch behind it?"

Link blinked. "I… I think it is… By the Three, I'm completely oblivious to everything, aren't I?"

"Nonsense," Ivan replied as Link burned the hidden sun switch. That caused the last door to open, and the Hero of Time stepped through it and broke the Spirit Barrier.

**!0*0!**

Sweat quickly accumulated on Link's brow as he stepped into the Fire Barrier, requiring him to wipe it all off with the back of his gauntlets. He already had his Hover Boots equipped, expecting to have a large central platform in the center that would sink if he wasn't wearing them. However, it appeared that that would not be necessary, as the room instead consisted of a collection of smaller platforms scattered around over a massive pool of lava. He kept the shoes on, though, because some of the jumps looked rather difficult, especially the first one, which showcased the oscillating motion of one of the platforms. If it started to move away again after Link made his leap, he'd surely fall into the lava below and be consumed. That would spell death, and death wasn't good.

He made the jump, just barely. The next few gaps were comparatively small, and Link made them easily. His attention was then drawn to the collection of Silver Rupees scattered around the room, namely the one that was suspended about seventy feet directly above him.

"Well, how do I get that?" Link asked himself, right before he stepped onto the platform beneath it and was promptly flung into the air. He managed to get his wits together just in time to nab the Rupee before he fell down again, almost missing the platform and falling into the magma below.

There was another series of jumps that led Link onto a platform that wouldn't sink. This outcrop was inhabited by a pair of Torch Slugs and a black pillar of ridiculous proportions. He ignored the spire for the moment and aggressively punted the Torch Slugs into the lava below. The Hero then cracked his knuckles, walked up to the pillar- emblazoned, he realized, with the Gerudo insignia- and squatted by its base, grabbing the bottom and lifting it. Power surged through the Golden Gauntlets as he adjusted his handhold, which was followed by him chucking the pillar over his head and into the lava on the other side of the room.

"Wow," Ivan breathed, awed by this show of strength. "There was another one outside of the Tower. Ivan wonders what is behind it."

"There is? I never noticed," his partner replied. "I'll have to check it out."

With that, the Hylian collected another Silver Rupee and then Longshotted to a tiny nearby platform, sweat making his fingers slick as he pulled himself onto the dais. There was a third Silver Rupee there, which Link grabbed before he daringly made his way onto the upended pillar he had lobbed into the lava. There was a fourth Silver Rupee hovering on top, which Link knew he would need.

In truth, the Hero of Time had no idea how many more gray rupees he would need to unlock the last door. He made to cross the expanse of lava over a quartet of collapsing floors, barely managing to grab on to the platform that didn't buckle under his feet. Unluckily, there was a Beamos standing guard there that continually tried to shoot at Link, denying him amnesty from the licking flames at his feet. Any longer, and his boots might catch on fire. Slowly and surely, he shuffled along the side of the platform, feet getting dangerously close to the molten rock directly below him. The Beamos, meanwhile, continued to shoot its laser at the patch of ground closest to where Link had once been, thinking he was still there. Once the Hero was directly behind the Beamos, he hauled himself away from the flames and threw a bomb at the robot, destroying it instantly.

He then carefully removed the second stone pillar, which was essentially the same thing as haphazardly hurling it to the other side of the room. There was a Silver Rupee hiding beneath where the pillar once was, and when Link touched it, the exit door unsealed and a convenient Hookshot panel appeared, allowing him to bridge the gap and annihilate the Fire Barrier with a Light Arrow.

**!0*0!**

"Huh, there really is a pillar here," Link noticed, wasting no time in forcibly removing it from its current location. It actually blocked a large cave, in which a Great Fairy Fountain was hidden. Not that Link could go in, due to his Stalfos Hand.

"Oh, it's the Great Fairy who gave us Din's Fire," Link grumbled. "That doesn't help very much."

"Nyet. This is a different Great Fairy," Ivan countered. "Ivan will clear everything up."

"Oh, really? Sweet!"

A few minutes passed, in which Ivan explained to the Great Fairy exactly what was going on. Once that was done, Link ascended to the pool and played Zelda's Lullaby on the Ocarina of Time. With a resounding cackle, the Great Fairy launched herself from the pristine waters and seated herself in midair, staring creepily down her nose at Link himself.

"Welcome, Hero! I am the Great Fairy of Courage! I will grant you an enhancement to your defensive power! Receive it now!"

The Great Fairy spread herself in the air, allowing her magic to flow and spread throughout the room. Link felt little change for a second, but was soon astonished to feel his own skin and flesh _hardening_ over his muscle and bone, allowing it to take more punishment before breaking. It was strange. It barely felt like his own anymore, and his shivered as his skin crawled, settling into a new formation. There was, of course, more to it than that. Link had also garnered a strange infinitesimal sheen over his surface, made of magical energies that similarly resisted strain. It only lasted an instant before disappearing, and the feeling of his flesh returned to the way it had always been. His skin settled back into its normal state, uncomfortably.

"With your enhanced defenses, damage inflicted by enemies will be reduced by half," the Fairy explained. "If your travels make you weary, please come and see me again!"

With that, she disappeared back into the Fountain. Link merely stared at his new complexion in mild interest.

"So, basically, everything hurts as much as it did in my original adventure? Awesome!" Link exclaimed. "That'll make the fight with Ganonwhoref so much easier!"

"As much as Ivan likes that nickname, you're still getting charged for it," Ivan chastised.

"Whatever," Link relented. "I'm not really going to be buying anything of critical value, so…"

He played the Minuet of Forest, slaughtered a Moblin Boss, and dove headfirst into a Fairy Fountain within the Sacred Forest Meadow, filling two of his Bottles with fairies before warping to Kakariko and buying a Green Potion for the last one. He doubted he'd need them for the Ganondorf fight, but it was always best to be prepared. He didn't want a repeat of the Gerudo Valley incident, after all.

**!0*0!**

An enormous stone pillar hid the entrance to the Light Barrier, but it was no match for Link's Golden Gauntlets. Idly, he wondered where this power came from that made it so much more mighty than the Silver Gauntlets. Eventually, the Hylian decided to not worry about it. It wasn't that big of a deal, anyway.

The first room was vaguely familiar to the first chamber of the Forest Barrier, but the Light one was yellow instead of green, and contained a Dinolfos and two Torch Slugs as opposed to two Stalfos. They were easier to conquer than the skeletal warriors had been, and the exit soon unsealed.

The attached corridor was tiny and cramped, and featured a locked door. There was also a Triforce etched into the floor, but since he had already acquired the Golden Gauntlets, Link didn't feel that actually playing the song was necessary. Instead, he merely opted to open the door with one of his two Small Keys, progressing even further into the complex.

The last time he had gone through this next room, he had had a limited time to collect a number of silver rupees in order to reveal the next path. Meanwhile, a pair of boulders rotated around a central dais. This time, however, there was only one boulder, there appeared to be no time limit, and there was a Beamos perched on top of the little area around which the boulder orbited.

Link intended to follow the boulder to the other door, assuming that he could use his Small Key to unlock it. Unfortunately, a wall of fire prevented the Hero of Time from doing just that. There was, however, a hookshot panel placed directly above the Beamos. Hopefully, the swordsman could use that to get to the other side.

His theory was proven correct as he sailed to the top of the plateau, landing squarely on top of the Beamos. The robot in question didn't even notice Link's weight as he slowly rotated on top of it, in synchronization with its revolution. Eventually, the Hylian made his way back to the exit door, unlocked it, and stepped through, narrowly avoiding the boulder as it rotated about.

The following area appeared to be the Light Barrier, but the bright orange tumor that was usually present was noticeably absent. Ivan was flabbergasted, but Link was not. He bravely walked straight onto the altar and tried to plow through an illusory wall, but was promptly stopped by something. He checked the Lens of Truth to ensure that he wasn't going senile, but alas, there was a crystalline structure blocking the way. Through the Lens, he could easily see the true Light Barrier, forever out of reach. There must be some way to dispel it. But how?

"There's a Skullwalltula on that ceremonial torch," Ivan pointed out. "Maybe if you kill it, something will happen?"

No. Nothing happened when the Skullwalltula's bloody corpse hit the ground. Link scanned the room to see anything out of the ordinary, and then again with the Lens of Truth, but both efforts were fruitless. He began to believe that there was a fragile wall somewhere in the room, perfectly disguised with the gold-hued stone. So he began the long and laborious task of swiping at every square inch of stone he could reach with the Stygian Light. Hours later, Link screamed in frustration at his lack of success in finding a bombable wall, and threw the Stygian Light away in his rage. It spun swiftly as it careened around the room, almost hitting Ivan, before colliding with the leftmost torch flanking the dais. There was a swift chime that Link almost missed as he heard something fall away. Disbelieving, Link peered through the Lens of Truth and saw, to his amazement, that the crystalline barrier had disappeared. Sighing in resignation, the Hylian picked up the Stygian Light and readied his bow, destroying the Light Barrier in an instant.

When he was teleported back into the main complex, the magic blocking Link from venturing deeper into Ganon's Tower swelled and dispersed, allowing entrance through the draconic mouth and closer to the King of Evil himself. The Hero of Time took a breath, drew the Master Sword, and stepped into the central tower. He decided not to use the Mirror Shield, despite at this point having the raw strength to use it as he once had. Throughout his lengthy journey through this mirrored world, he'd grown used to not having a physical shield at the ready, instead relying on his Stalfos Shield to defend himself and moving erratically to dodge while still keeping the absurd range of the Stygian Light. To put it shortly, a two-handed blade style of combat was the one that fit Link the best now, whereas a single-handed sword and shield was the one he had preferred last timeline. Sure, this new world was more punishing on mistakes, but it allowed Link to reap more rewards in the form of more raw offensive output. It just suited him better.

He began the ascent, humming the organ tune echoing throughout the Tower.

**The battle with Ganondorf is up next. The entire fic has built up to this. And oh boy, is it going to be FUN to write.**

**On an unrelated note, I despise the Ganon's Tower music with a fiery passion. (Not the organ music during the final ascent; that stuff's fire.) Don't worry, though, this is a lot better. ** watch?v=kRyQi1Qa_18&list=PLftO1w_3mZBKyjKWmVPIA9jTkYNsYqAUC&index=36**. If that URL doesn't work because hates URL's, it's the Aboard the Star Forge theme from KOTOR. Just search that up. It fits Ganon's Tower really well, I think,**

**NOOTTD: Nothing I can think of.**

**All I want for Christmaaaaas is reviews!**


	24. Chapter 23: The Final Battle

**So, last night I heard these weird noises coming from my kitchen. When I went to check it out, what do I see but FFnet eating my reviews? I worked really hard to get those, you silly software! Long story short, I didn't get those reviews back… actually, it might have been my cousin Kyle searching my fridge for beans. But I am going to assume that it was FFnet because I don't want to believe that nobody reviewed last chapter.**

**Anyway, this is it. The last chapter. There's an epilogue after this, so don't go away just yet.**

**RRRP:**

_Chapter XXIII: Indomitable Will_

"Leetle man should probably stop that," Ivan chastised.

"Why?" Link inquired, pulling the Ocarina of Time away from his lips.

"You're about to fight an incarnation of Demise, not play music with one."

"But it's a really cool song and it's just begging for a corollary!" Link complained. "Fine…"

He finally put away the Ocarina of Time and drew the Master Sword, habitually twirling it about in his hands. His legs may have felt like jelly from all the stairs he had just had to ascend, but all the anticipatory adrenaline coursing through his veins more or less negated that latent exhaustion.

Ganon's Tower immediately after finishing the Light Barrier was surprisingly boring. Link was expecting some kind of extreme gauntlet, with maybe some of those eldritch abominations like the Kumangiriza or Maoqiu waiting to do battle with him, but instead, it was exactly the same as last time. Two Dinolfos, then two Stalfos, then two Iron Knuckles. The Hero of Time remained unenthused. If Ganondorf really wanted to kill him, he could at least _try_. Granted, Link somewhat liked what Ganondorf had done with the place. That one massive staircase full of stained-glass windows actually looked really good, and the smaller details like the gargoyles and the vermillion magic ward coursing through the walls really made the whole place stand out. It was cool.

The last door stood in front of him. Not to be confused with the Boss Door; the Boss Door had led him to the chamber directly beneath where Ganondorf was residing. No, this was the _last_ last door, the one behind which the King of Evil himself was waiting. It all came down to this. Link had fought through countless temples, nightmare fuel incarnate, the belly of a whale god, a sweltering cavern, and so much more- twice over. He'd won battles against himself, both mentally and physically. All of it was but a taste of what was to come.

And he was ready.

Mustering his courage, he stepped through the avant-garde Gothic door and saw the King of Evil himself, seated in front of a gargantuan organ while playing a tune that encapsulated everything about Ganondorf perfectly. Above and slightly in front of the organ was Princess Zelda, still stuck in her crystalline prison, staring down at him with slightly fearful, but mostly determined eyes. Every step he took made all of their Triforces glow a little brighter, until they were practically their own little suns. Power surged throughout the decorated chamber as the fragments of godly power nearly reunited once again. That power drained Link of his lethargy and hurt, and revitalized him to his best. He later learned that it was Zelda who had healed him and not the Triforce, but either way, he was getting free healing, so he didn't mind.

The Gerudo ceased his ministrations on the organ, and there was silence.

"The Triforce parts are resonating… They are combining into one again…" Ganondorf's gravelly voice emanated. He didn't sound like he had on that night seven years ago, in which Ivan deduced that he was Demise. It sounded more like the Ganondorf Link knew from last timeline. He supposed that it was a good thing; it may mean that the battle would be similar.

"Those two shards of the Triforce that I could not capture on that day seven years ago… I should have expected them to be hidden within you two!"

He snickered as he rose from his stool. The cape he was wearing was ridiculous and made him look fat from behind.

"And now, at long last, all the pieces of the Triforce have been brought together!"

He twisted around with an elegant flourish of his cape, revealing that he was not, in fact, fat. He had, however, certainly grown into the position of being King. For example, he'd let his hair grow out to shoulder length as opposed to the close-cropped one of seven years prior. The whites of his eyes had wholly disappeared, leaving a puke-colored iris and yellow in its wake. He was dressed much more elegantly, right down to the heavy earrings gracing the sides of his head.

"These toys are too much for you!" he boomed. "I demand you return them to _me_!"

He raised his left hand, the one bearing the Triforce of Power, and blasted waves of potent dark energy all around the room. Link managed to remain standing, but Ivan was sent flying into the corner of the chamber, unable to resist the surging dark magic flooding the room. If Ivan was a normal fairy and forced Link to rely on Z-targeting to deal effective damage, it would have been an issue. But he wasn't, so it wasn't.

The King of Evil threw himself into the air, massive organ fading out behind him. Either he had teleported it away or it was an illusion the whole time. The room quickly went dark as Ganondorf channeled dark energy into his fist before ramming it into the floor, causing a massive shockwave that smashed all of the stained glass windows that surrounded their arena. Interestingly, he hadn't broken any of the tiles on the floor, like last time. Link noted that only a few instants before seeing the massive broadsword that appeared in Ganon's outstretched hands.

Well, this was new.

Link brandished the Master Sword again, readying himself for the upcoming sword fight. Ganondorf was quickly upon him, swiping at the Hero with his blade. The Hylian narrowly dodged, but was unable to repeat the process when Ganondorf brought his sword down from over his head with a mighty "Doriyah!" All Link could do was raise the Mirror Shield to intercept the blow, which not only sent painful sensations coursing along his arm, but when he looked at his shield, it had cracked along the surface. Another blow like that, and it would surely break. He hadn't even known that that was possible.

Link decided that the best defense was offense, and threw his fractured Mirror Shield at Ganondorf. Not surprisingly, the Gerudo King was not expecting such an attack, and the red and silver shield connected with Demise's incarnation's cranium. That notwithstanding, he still managed to lock blades with Link, who had tried to use the thrown shield as a distraction to get a good swipe in. They remained stuck in such a position for some time, until Link attempted to break this impromptu stalemate by throwing a punch at the king's nose. His effort was successful, but his second attempt was intercepted by Ganondorf's free hand. The next thing Link knew, he was on the ground, an imprint of Ganon's boot temporarily engraved in his lower abdominal. Shards of stained glass poked into his back, but a quick check validated that they hadn't drawn blood.

Using the Master Sword for support, Link picked himself up just in time to narrowly dodge another powerful swing from Ganondorf. The King of Evil continued to advance, evidently hoping to push Link through one of the windows and fall to his death. The Hero of Time, meanwhile, was forced back, step for step. He could feel the violent wind on his back, and knew that he couldn't afford another step.

Ganondorf evidently knew this, and ceased his advance. After all, Link was stuck between him and the vast expanse of sky. There was no way to dodge to the side, due to the stone pillars dutifully keeping the roof upright. The king merely opted to form a searing ball of plasma and point it at Link's face, just like that night seven years ago.

"Any last words for your precious princess, before you are defenestrated?" he taunted.

Link didn't answer verbally. Instead, he raised his Stalfos hand as fast as he could and fired the Longshot.

He was aiming for the gargoyle behind Ganondorf, hoping to latch onto it and get out of the situation. However, his aim was off, and he hit the King of Evil straight in the eye. Ganon stumbled, clutching his face in pain. The Hero of Time wasted no time in capitalizing on this, and fired a Light Arrow at the injured Gerudo.

There was a multicolored flash as holy energy temporarily bound the Evil King, and Link instantly moved to the offensive, hacking away with the Blade of Evil's Bane. Unfortunately, due to a crescendo of dark energy constantly pushing him back, he was unable to deal a finishing blow to the dark lord.

With a powerful roar, Ganon eventually broke through the Light Arrow's binding magic, throwing himself into the air and floating over the ground. He brandished his blade once and then flew at Link, locking blades once again. A twisting motion from the King of Evil saw the Master Sword fly out of Link's grasp. The Hylian, now defenseless, narrowly avoided the strong swing that Ganondorf then unleashed. To his shock, the sword caused floor tiles to dislodge from their place, colliding with the floor below and smashing to bits.

He drew the Stygian Light before pretending to avoid Ganondorf's next attack. However, he actually allowed himself to get hit, and merely Backapparated behind the Demon King before scoring a good blow on his back.

Ganondorf snarled before twisting about, nailing Link in his bad eye with his gauntleted fist. Even despite his inability to see through that eye, stars flashed in Link's vision, almost preventing him from avoiding Ganon's next attack. He wasn't sure how many more blows like that he could take before falling, and he sure didn't want to find out.

He put some distance between himself and Ganondorf, who then opted to play a round of energy tennis with the Hero of Hyrule, much like he had last timeline. Eventually, Ganondorf was hit in the face by his own ball of lightning, and was then promptly hit by a Light Arrow.

For the first time in Link's life, he cast Utarefson.

He learned then that the spell had a dual usage: while he was draining life energy from his opponent and infusing it into his own, he could also see just how much life they had left. He then deduced that one more good hit with the Master Sword would seal the deal.

He scanned the room for the signature off-purple light that signified his fairy partner.

"Ivan! His defenses are down! Can you Mind Hack him to stay still!"

"He'll have mental wards, but Ivan can try!" the fairy replied.

Link scooped Ivan up and sprinted against the flow of dark magic to where the King of Darkness lay before practically forcing Ivan's deep blue from into him. He then retrieved the Master Sword from where it had been tossed before dealing the final blow.

Ganondorf convulsed as Ivan was forcibly ejected from his body, fortunately landing in Link's grasp. The Gerudo eventually sunk into a kneeling position, energy totally drained.

"The… great King of Evil Ganondorf… beaten by this little kid?" Ganondorf breathed incredulously before puking up blood. "Link?!"

He got to his feet and started screaming in rage, white light consuming his body as he vented his rage. The floor began to shake violently as the glassless walls around him buckled and cracked. Link preemptively summoned his Stalfos Shield and held it over his head in an effort to block the incoming storm of stone.

When it was done, Ganondorf was still standing there, before he sank to his knees and collapsed, defeated.

Zelda was still hovering above him in her crystal prison. Link disregarded her as she began to descend. His attention was fixed on Ganondorf. He habitually twirled his weapon in his grip as he approached the downed King of Evil.

And he stabbed him through the chest with the Master Sword.

There was a slight gurgling from Ganon as blood started to ooze from his lips. A violent buzzing noise filled Link's ears as he withdrew the Blade of Evil's Bane from the corpse.

And then he drove it down again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

**!0*0!**

It took the combined efforts of Zelda and Ivan to force Link off of Ganondorf's corpse. He insisted on leaving the Master Sword embedded in Ganondorf's torso, as if to pin him to that spot for all time. He was breathing heavily, but in a controlled fashion. He didn't regret a thing.

"Ganondorf… pitiful man," Zelda said. "Without a strong and righteous mind, he could not control the power of the goddesses, and-"

The entire tower began quaking and rumbling, cutting Zelda off in her tirade. She uttered a small gasp before realizing what was happening.

"Link, listen to me! This tower will collapse soon!" the princess revealed. "Ganondorf is using his last breath, Ganondorf is trying to crush us in the ruins of the tower! We need to hurry and escape! Please follow me!"

"But Zelda… we're on the top floor," Link halfheartedly argued. "Nothing is going to crush us, because there's nothing but the sky above our heads!"

A flaming piece of rubble chose that moment to hit him in the head.

"What the- How does that make sense!"

"Just get out of the tower!" Zelda ordered. "There's a walkway here that will take us down the tower!"

"It'll take too long!" Link replied. "Besides, I have a better idea!"

"What?"

A borderline sinister grin crossed Link's face. "How afraid are you of heights?"

"Not very," the princess replied, unsure of herself. "What does this- Link?"

The Hero jogged over to the beginning of the sloped walkway and set his cracked Mirror Shield down on its surface. He then backed away, nearly walking off of the path and falling to his death.

"What are you doing?" Zelda asked.

"Just trust me!" Link said before sprinting towards her. Mid-dash, he grabbed the Princess and hopped onto the shield, his momentum carrying all three objects over the lip of the slope. They quickly began gaining speed as they surfed down the path, narrowly avoiding various molten shrapnel as the tower began to collapse in on itself. Unfortunately, their shield-surfing adventure was nearing an end, as the walkway was rapidly nearing its end. It ended on a sheer drop deep into the inner echelons of the castle.

"Link! The path is about to end! Are you mad?!"

"Trust me!" Link hollered back as they gracefully sailed off the edge and began their descent. The Hero of Time fumbled in his pouch for the thing he was looking for, eventually procuring it and casting the spell. The warm blue shield of Nayru's Love quickly encased him in an impenetrable defense. He swiftly repeated the process for Zelda herself, picking up the now-mangled shield and stowing it away in midair. They quickly reached terminal velocity, leaving Ivan in the dust as he hastened to close the gap between himself and his partner. They hit the ground hard, sending hairline fractures all throughout the small bridge they found themselves on and completely draining Nayru's Love, but they weren't even injured. Mission accomplished; there was only one more staircase until they were out of the Tower.

"Link, that was the most immature, risky, and ridiculous thing I've ever seen anyone do," Zelda chastised angrily.

"It worked, didn't it?" Link retaliated, allowing a wry grin to slip onto his face. He was promptly cut off by the sensation of a Redead gnawing on the back of his neck. Zelda just looked at him snarkily, as if to say 'There's some karma for you', before frying it with a well-aimed blast of magical energy. She merely cocked an eyebrow.

"I deserved that," he sighed, grinning sheepishly back at Zelda. She returned the gesture before using her sage powers to unseal the grate blocking them from the outside world.

The castle was collapsing much faster than it had last time, not that last timeline's time had been slow. They probably would have managed to escape the castle had they gone the way they had last time, but it most certainly would have been more stressful. The pair of Stalfos might have screwed them up, but even if they had, the Triforce bearers probably would have made it out alive. In other words, all Link did was shave a few seconds off of his time and royally ruin his physical shield. But considering the rush of adrenaline that had accompanied his chosen path, and the fact that Ganondorf was still run through with the Master Sword, Link decided that it was worth it.

There was one more seal left to get through, and Link and Zelda were able to wrench it open. They escaped onto a tiny outgrowth of land that led nowhere, connected to the tower but still floating over what was once a pool of lava. The fire was drained now, oddly enough. He wasn't complaining. A few seconds after that observation was made, the trio could visibly see the precipice of the tower begin to deflate into itself, marking the true beginning of the collapse. Air hissed and spewed out from the structure as floors collided with each other, and the crackling noise of smashing glass was omnipresent. The gargoyle statues that flanked the outer reaches of Ganon's Tower began to fall, some outwards and into the basin below, and others inwards to add to the pandemonium inside. Link noticed the Dead Hand from the Water Barrier rise out of the rubble for an instant before being smashed by a sharp rock, killed instantly. Not that Link was complaining, of course. Massive shockwaves accompanied the collapse of each individual floor, stacking one on top of the other and almost creating a drumbeat as the Tower fell. It was breathtaking.

After much time, there was comparative silence. The wind howled as it ravaged the spot where Ganon's Tower once stood, heralding that a thunderstorm would be upon it soon. It was just as well; perhaps the rain would wash away the evil that once resided here.

"It's hard to believe that it's finally over," Zelda's voice finally rang out. It was near silent compared to the cacophonous booms that echoed throughout the area earlier. "Peace reigns in Hyrule once again. Now that Ganondorf has been vanquished, the scars of his corruption should soon revert to their original state. It's… truly amazing."

"Da," Ivan added. "Ivan is sorry for not being much help in the last battle…"

Link smiled. "Don't worry about it. We have a whole cleansed Hyrule for you to make it up to me. Not that you need to, of course."

Ivan's dim light flickered. "Uh… da… About th-"

The fairy was cut off by a rumble from within the wreckage. On instinct, Link moved in front of Zelda and threw his sword arm out in front of her, as if to block the princess from whatever was inside. Zelda, meanwhile, had reactively sunk into a Sheikah battle pose, ready to spring into action if need be.

"Link… what was that?"

"It's probably that Dead Hand that was in the Water Barrier," Link replied, relaxing. That had to be it. There was no way that it could be Ganondorf. Right?

Right?

"What if it's Ganondorf, though?" Zelda asked, knowing that her fears were not unfounded.

"Zelda, I ran him through with the Master Sword. There's no way that he's alive. There can't be."

"But he might be," the princess pleaded. "Just check, okay? For my own sake of mind?"

"Alright," Link relented, drawing the Stygian Light and approaching the ruins.

**!0*0!**

As the Hero of Time twice over, Link could safely say he hated a lot of things. Of course, there were the standard things, such as corrupted water, Dead Hands, and of course, Ganondorf. Had he been asked about six months ago what he hated most, Link would probably reply with Zelda. Or himself. One of the two.

Naturally, both of these hatreds turned out to be unfounded. Not to say that they were difficult to get over; coming to grips with those two things was by far the most difficult thing Link had had to do in his life. But Zelda just wanted the best, and Link had trusted her. If he could blame anything, which he probably wouldn't, it was the Ocarina of Time.

Rage was an emotion he experienced often, but never quite to the extent of overriding his logic. This assertion was blown out of the water when Ganondorf threw himself into the air and threw a tower's worth of rubble and stone into the sky, still impaled through the torso with the Master Sword.

Above all else, he hated being wrong about these sorts of things.

"Are you _fucking _kidding me?!" Link screamed. "You're _dead!_ You have no excuse for not being dead!"

"He's got the Triforce of Power!" Ivan pointed out, indicating the golden glow enveloping Ganondorf's left hand. "That power is keeping him alive!"

"Oh, because of course it is!" Link complained.

The Triforce of Power began to shine even brighter. Zelda looked like she wanted to run to him, to help him in any way possible, but she was separated from her hero by the massive wall of fire that encircled the ruins. Meanwhile, up in the air, Ganondorf began to make wild ululations as twisted energy consumed his body. The Hero of Time threw his off hand in front of his eye to block it from this horrid brilliance. Ganondorf's body began to twist and contort as he used the full power of his third of the Triforce to go all out. He burst out of his regal attire, revealing a deep muscular torso beneath his clothes. He expanded, face convulsing and transforming into a brutish apparition. He developed a pig's snout and hateful, beady eyes as his skin became even greener than before. Massive, twisted horns surged forth from either side of his head, completing the demonic transformation from man to beast, from Ganondorf to Ganon. The tactical, cunning King of the Gerudo was no more. In its place was this dark beast, the epitome of raw and untamed strength.

And Link didn't have the Master Sword.

It stared at Link for a second before comically glancing at its midsection, where the Blade of Evil's Bane still remained lodged. It gingerly plucked the hilt of the blade and yanked it out of its body, not even spilling a single drop of blood in the process. It then threw the blade off into the canyon below the floating platform, forever out of Link's reach.

"Link! I'll try to get the Master Sword from in the pit. You try to stay alive! Ivan, please help me find the Master Sword!" Zelda ordered over the cacophonous sounds of Ganon's birth, hopping off of the little peninsula to retrieve the sacred sword. Link was then left alone, truly alone, as two gargantuan golden daggers formed in the collosal pig's fingers. It began swiping with abandon in Link's general direction. He raised the Stygian Light to parry, but Ganon's attack was strong enough to knock it out of Link's grasp. The longsword flew through the flames and almost skidded straight off of the platform. It held on, but just by an inch.

Understandably, the first thing Link did was run away when his weapon was dislodged from his hands. Tucking himself behind a partially collapsed wall, he rummaged through his pouch to find something else suitable for combat, eventually settling on the Megaton Hammer. Actually, how was he supposed to operate the Megaton Hammer efficiently while also shooting Ganon with Light Arrows to stun the beast? It simply wasn't doable.

Link eyed the multicolored fluorescent tail swaying rhythmically behind the demon currently wreaking havoc. He needed to get to that, but how? Just running at him wouldn't work… unless…

Mustering his courage and more of his insanity, Link threw himself out from cover and sprinted towards Ganon. The boar monster immediately saw him and raised its golden blade to smash the Hero into a pulp. Unfortunately for Ganon, the Hylian managed to slide between its legs and bash the Megaton Hammer into its tail, eliciting a roar of pain from the former man. It swiftly turned and swung its swords again, catching Link across the torso and sending him flying into the wall of flames. Fortunately, the heat-retardant Goron Tunic helped to negate the burning effects of the firewall, but it didn't help the fact that he had just been forcibly slammed into a solid surface. He felt his ribs crack and splinter at the unprecedented force, although by some twisted mercy he kept breathing. It gave him plenty of time to watch Ganon stalk ever closer. He felt through his pouch, ignoring the biting stabs of agony that accompanied every moment of movement, and pawed through each of his bottles. One of them held a Green Potion. One of them was empty. The last contained a Healing Fairy, to Link's delight, which regrafted his ribcage before disappearing. He stood, noticing that the fairy hadn't healed his lesser injuries, and dashed away from Ganon's next attack.

He fired a Light Arrow at the monster, trading magic for a moment of respite. The bipedal pig was stunned, seizing up as he was temporarily held back by a surge of holy energy. He then sprinted around it and cast Utarefson on its tail, stealing a bit of Ganon's life force to heal his injuries as well as learning that he had an impossibly long way to go in terms of beating the beast badly enough to dispel the flame wall. As long as those fires surrounded the ruins, there was no way that he could get the Master Sword from Zelda; he had long since learned that the firewall blocked all teleportation magic in a massive radius.

It started to rain, lightning flashing in the distance. It gave Ganon an ominous dark facade whenever it happened, adding an atmosphere of fear to the whole thing. Not that it wasn't horrifying as is; it was merely a detail that added much to the terror factor.

Seeing that Ganon was breaking through the Light Arrow's hold, Link backed off and withdrew the Megaton Hammer from his pouch once again. In the process, he accidentally dislodged a Deku Nut from its place. It fell to the earth and cracked with a bright flash and a loud bang. When Link finally dispelled the spots dancing within his eye, he noticed how Ganon was doing a similar thing. It shook its head violently to dispel the light, taking a few seconds, before resuming its assault. This was revolutionary.

_Because he didn't need the Light Arrows._

He hastily procured his bag of Deku Nuts and threw one at the ground directly in front of Ganon. He was then able to abuse the sudden lapse in the demon's ability to see to hit its tail with the Megaton Hammer. It hissed in pain before whirling around, and would have hit Link again had he not already made himself scarce. If only there was a way to hit the big pig from a distance… preferably without using too many arrows…

He eyed the Longshot that lay deep within his pouch. That would do.

He withdrew the upgraded Hookshot and looked up just in time to see Ganon uproot the remains of a spire from his tower. Before the Hero of Time knew what was going on, the building fragment was flying at him at a sizable speed, especially given how it had been thrown at him from across the platform by a giant bipedal pig demon. The stone projectile was coming at him too quickly to simply dodge, so in desperation Link cast Nayru's Love on himself to tank the blow.

This turned out to be the correct decision, as for some reason, the Goddesses had decided to stuff the spire full of Bombs. Then, a tongue of flames from the firewall connected with the fuse and successfully lit it, causing a massive chain reaction of explosions that sent Link flying. While in midair, he consumed a Green Potion to refill his completely drained Magic, before landing on Ganon's head. From this new vantage point, he could see Zelda, in the form of Sheik, scaling the sheer cliffside with the Master Sword in tow. Ivan was still with her. He knew he had to take down Ganon somewhat in order to get the Master Sword, so he slid down the monster's back and rammed the Megaton Hammer into its tail once more. Link clung to the loincloth that had formed out of what was once Ganondorf's regal attire as the beast tried to shake him off, only succeeding after Link managed to hit its weak spot again, this time with nothing more than a gauntleted fist.

The patheticness of the attack notwithstanding, it was enough to bring Ganon to its knees with an unholy squeal, not unlike that of a stuck pig. The firewall fizzled and petered out, and the instant it fell, Zelda teleported onto the small peninsula on which the Stygian Light was resting.

"Link! The Master Sword is here! Hurry up!" she called.

The Hylian in question immediately raced to the small bit of land, retrieving both the Stygian Light and the Master Sword. He opted to use the blade forged by Biggoron solely for its ability to pierce magical resistance.

"There's no way Ganon can hold back Ivan this time! Now, we fight together!" Ivan declared with a strange tone of voice. It was almost like he was trying to convince Link that the fairy was totally normal.

Link didn't comment on it. There were more pressing matters at hand, such as the big boar that he was going to slaughter. As soon as he reentered the arena, the firewall rose again, and Ganon hissed before getting to its feet. Link used the lull in the action to sheathe his blade before sprinting up to the beast, and swiping with the blade as he drew it once again, dealing massive damage to the monstrosity. It roared in agony before turning on Link and swiping out with its massive blades, narrowly missing the Hero. Then it did something Link had no recollection of it ever doing before. It rammed its golden blades into the ground, and the whole platform shook as it started to plummet to the bottom of the canyon that had housed a massive vat of lava. And judging by the surge of heat that accompanied their descent, that lava had been resummoned to fill the abyss.

Link sheathed the Stygian Light and clutched the Master Sword in his hands, ready to land the final blow. Ganon had, at that point, reclaimed its blades and was truly going all out against the Hero, attempting ferocious blow after ferocious blow. Every step Ganon took tilted their platform, causing some of it to be thrown into the air and other parts to submerge in the lava itself. Zelda appeared to be counteracting this somewhat with her magic, but even she wasn't able to completely negate the effect.

Link seized an arrow, enchanted it with pure Light energy, and loosed it at Ganondorf. The beast tried to evade the attack, but in the process moved itself straight into it. The sealing power of the Sages was enough for Link to get around it and deliver the coup de grace to the Demon King.

Once again, the monster fell to its knees and the firewall disappeared. This time, though, Zelda fired her own sealing beam at the Evil King in preparation to lock him in the void of the Sacred Realm. The Master Sword began glowing a vibrant blue, as if anticipating eradicating this monstrosity from the mortal plane. He slowly walked to the head of the beast, shooting another Light Arrow into its face just for fun, and then drawing back the Master Sword.

He swung to the left. Then to the right. Then once more, each swipe colliding with Ganon's brutish face and spraying blood all over the platform. Link then pulled the Blade of Evil's Bane away, before driving it pointfirst into the monster's brain.

There was silence for a few seconds. Ganon blinked. Link tugged the blade from its brain as it reared up on its feet, wailing psychotically to the sky and flailing its arms around erratically.

"Six Sages, now!" Zelda ordered, summoning a rift to the Sacred Realm before collapsing to her knees, exhausted from the magical output. She would have fallen further had Link not caught her.

"You all right?"

"Yes, just weary," the princess breathed back. "I'm just glad it's really…"

**!0*0!**

She stopped mid-sentence, shock and horror forming on her face before she scrambled upright, Sheikah training taking over as she sunk into a defensive stance. Confused, Link turned around to see a terrifying sight.

Ganondorf- for it _was_ Ganondorf now, as he appeared seven years ago- was still being sucked into the Sacred Realm by the Six Sages. But as he was inexorably pulled out of the world, a black mist was beginning to pool out of his prone body and form into a humanoid shape in front of them. It quickly coalesced with further details as the entrance to the Sacred Realm closed. This being's coloring remained black, although its torso and face were a stonelike gray. It had long and spiky hair down to the small of its back, which started as a midnight black and quickly became a crimson color of hateful flames. Thick scales, pulsating black and red, formed along its torso, arms, and legs, offering a sort of natural armor. Similarly shaded tendrils of Malice spewed forth from it like a plague, slowly corrupting everything it came in contact with. There was a white crossbuck-shaped scar on its forehead, just above two furious red eyes. On closer inspection, it almost seemed transparent, like it wasn't really there.

"Useless," it spat. Ivan, who was already hyperventilating, practically fainted.

"Is that who I think it is?" Link breathed, horror filtering into his words.

"Da," Ivan replied, terrified. "That's Demise, without a Hatred Incarnation to bind to. Hopefully, since it doesn't have-"

"Ghirahim!" Demise uttered, snapping its fingers. A piece of vibrantly colored wood appeared in its outstretched fingertips, adorned with spikes and two disturbingly wide eyes. The eldritch demon stared at the mask in its hands for a second, confused. Then it reached _into _the trinket before drawing out an enormous black sword, adorned with spikes and emblazoned with an inverted Triforce.

"... That," Ivan finished. "Okay, never mind, we're dead."

"Ivan!" Zelda scolded. "That is no way to think about this. The odds may be stacked against us, but this time, all three of us fight as one. That has to count for something, right?"

Ivan let out a shaky breath. "You're right. Better to go down fighting than to live under Demise's thumb."

The demon lord seemed to finally take notice of the Hero, Princess, and fairy. "Ah," he leered in a deep and powerful voice. "The youths chosen by the Goddesses have finally grown up. It took you mortals long enough."

They didn't reply, but they steeled themselves for the oncoming storm.

"Interesting. You two truly haven't changed across the generations, have you?" Demise boomed. "It's almost a pity that I will annihilate you. At the very least, one of us will enjoy it. _Immensely_."

It was that voice. The voice from that night seven years ago, that had taunted Link in his garish nightmares ever since. He could show no mercy to that voice. Enraged, Link flung himself at Demise, and the two locked blades. They swung again, only to meet the other's blade in a similar position. This monotony was interrupted, however, when Zelda teleported behind Demise and rammed a kunai into Demise's spinal cord- or at least, she would have had Demise not been intangible as well as partially invisible. This revelation shocked Link enough for the demon lord to land a mighty blow on the Hero's side. Fortunately, Link was able to Backapparate behind the Demon King and stab him with the Master Sword.

He never got the chance.

Before Link could even fully emerge from his teleportation, Demise's free hand was already closing around his neck. "So, you're gifted in dark magic," Demise mused. "That's cute."

The hand around his jugular squeezed a little tighter as Link felt all of his dark energy drain from his body and into Demise's. It felt strange to not have a tempest of pure darkness swirling about inside of him. Even his Void Arrows were drained of their power, instead infusing Demise's own dark magic reserves. It was how he felt Utarefson would work, except instead of draining life, it leached away magical energy.

A bright burst of light, too dim to be a Deku Nut, consumed Link's vision. He felt Demise's chilling grip disappear from his neck and he sank to the ground, exhausted. When the spots cleared from his vision, he saw that the real King of Evil had been impaled by a Light Arrow courtesy of Zelda; it evidently still possessed the evil-binding powers of the six other Sages. Unfortunately, since Demise was made up of far more concentrated evil than Ganondorf had been, Link could only get one swipe with the Master Sword in before Demise recovered and made his way towards Zelda.

It clicked. Demise could be temporarily stunned by Light Arrows. He was approaching Zelda and not covering his back, meaning that he didn't know that Link had access to the Light Arrows, too. His magic was so drained that he only had one shot, though, so he had to hit it. Ivan was helpfully flying around Demise's head, not only to distract him from Zelda but also to help Link in his aim. The Hero of Time let the arrow fly, and its trajectory was dead-on.

But Demise _caught_ the arrow mid flight.

"So this is the tool the Goddesses have deigned to defeat me?" he mused. "Back in my time, legendary weapons _meant_ something."

With a concentrated flow of dark magic, the light of the Light Arrow dulled and became blackened. Then the evil king threw the new Void Arrow at high speeds towards the princess, who had to resort to using a Deku Nut to evade the dark projectile. Unfortunately, Demise caught her in his grasp and pointed his dark blade to the sky. The sword was struck by lightning and became charged with raw energy, which Demise then unleashed at Link, who had been charging at him from across the platform. Link was hit with the raw energy and sent flying across the ruins, groaning as he righted himself from his fallen position.

"That's it!" Ivan yelled over the rumbling of thunder, a flash of inspiration consuming him. "Link! You have to use the Skyward Strike!"

"What the hell is that?" Link yelled back.

"Point the Master Sword into the air! You can do what Demise just did to you! It's how the first Link beat this demon!"

The Hylian did as told, feeling like an idiot. Zelda did her best to distract Demise while Link waited to be struck by lightning. The rain picked up, but a lightning strike had yet to connect with his blade. What seemed like hours later, it finally happened, and Link wasted no time in releasing the powerful attack. Fortunately, it connected with Demise's body thanks to a distraction from Zelda, causing the abomination to seize up as holy energy gave it pause. However, the platform began to shake and convulse as raw Malice spewed from the demon's form, preventing Link from getting close. Light Arrows were also deflected by that Malice, preventing them from contacting Demise. Worse, he seemed to recover from the Skyward Strike rather quickly.

"Ivan thinks you have to stun him with a Light Arrow first, and then hit him with the Skyward Strike!" the fairy suggested.

"Is that how the other Hero did it?"

"Ivan doesn't know! But do you have any better ideas?"

"No, Ivan," Link sighed as he barely parried a blow from what appeared to be the Master Sword's evil twin. "Look at all of the Malice strewn around the arena! It's deflecting or corrupting any Light Arrows that Zelda and I try to fire!"

As if on cue, a volley of Void Arrows penetrated the earth just inches from Link's feet. Zelda had been dutifully expending her already taxed magical reserves on Light Arrows until she ran out of magic with which to enchant the projectiles.

"Link! I'm out of magic!" Zelda informed. "Can you lend me your Golden Gauntlets?"

"Why?"

"I can harvest the magical energy in the Gauntlets and use that to cast more spells!" Zelda replied.

"Works for me, I guess," Link grumbled, blocking a blow from Demise with his own blade. He quickly procured the Mirror Shield and held it up in the demon's face, but a single swipe from Demise's sword split the shield cleanly in half. However, it was just enough of a distraction for Link to beeline to Zelda, doff the Gauntlets, and allow Zelda to do her work.

"Mind Hacking is fully recharged," Ivan informed. "Not that it'll help…"

"Maybe it will," Link whispered, barely audible even to his partner. "Ivan, could you Mind Hack him when I have another Skyward Strike prepared? You might be able to hold Demise long enough for Zelda to get a Light Arrow in on it."

"But how will Ivan get to it in the first place? That Malice will keep Ivan away."

Link didn't answer. Instead, he charged Demise with his sword out in an attempt to force the Demon King to focus all of its attention onto Link and not anything else. It worked, and Demise was soon wholeheartedly attempting to rip Link open from neck to navel.

It worked a little too well. Demise was able to score a ghastly blow on Link across his chest, blossoming red spurting out across his torso. The hit forced Link to stumble and buckle, but strength of will kept the Hero of Time standing and resisting. A quick hand movement allowed a lightning bolt to ram itself into the Hylian's blade, only hindering him for a moment. That instant was enough for Demise to kick Link squarely in the ribs, pushing the Hero of Time backwards and bruising his already lacerated torso. Acute agony shot through Link's body, but nothing appeared life-threatening at that instant. They traded attacks for a few minutes as Ivan and Zelda searched for an opening. Malice energy let out enraged hisses as the torrential rains collided with it, filling the battlefield with steam. That Malice also served to protect Demise from being flanked, as the dark energies were actively toxic to all life.

The Hero and Demon King locked swords once again, struggling against each other as a massive thunderclap echoed throughout the arena. Both combatants refused to back down, somehow knowing that this particular instant would be the critical juncture in this battle. Link, intending to anger Demise, conjured a concoction of bile and blood and saliva in the back of his throat and spat directly onto the Demon Lord's face.

"I am a god! You are _nothing!"_ Demise roared, shoving Link away. He then summoned a tidal wave of Malice to ensnare the Hero, forcing the Master Sword out of his grasp. The dark god smirked evilly, knowing that he had Link trapped and unable to fight back. Finally, his vengeance had been exacted. The Hero was his for the slaughtering.

A tiny red light then collided with Demise, and the tendrils of Malice quickly unfurled around Link. Wisps of steam floated off of his charred skin as Link caught his breath. Almost immediately after, a Light Arrow from Zelda hit Demise in the back of the head, causing the Demon Lord to seize up. Panting heavily, the Hero of Time picked up the Master Sword, dashed to Demise as quickly as he could, and unleashed the Skyward Strike.

The rain began to peter out as Demise physically unraveled, almost evaporating into an angry black mist. That raw dark energy was then magnetized around the Master Sword, which drank in all of the darkness and returned Demise to its rightful place; sealed within the Blade of Evil's Bane.

The rain stopped. Link stared. He was soaked, both in rain and blood belonging to himself and Ganondorf, standing amid the ruins of Ganon's Tower. His entire time-warped life had built up to this moment, this glorious silence. It was perfection.

The sun peeked out of the clouds, and Link, knowing that his job was done, finally collapsed to the earth and closed his eyes. Vaguely, he could hear Zelda and Ivan scream his name, assuming his injuries were getting the best of him, but he would eventually assure them that they were not. The short exhalations they had mistaken for death throes were nothing but laughter, for Demise was gone and Hyrule was finally at peace.

**So. Here we are. The last final author's note. I don't think there's anything to say here that hasn't already been said. So, I'm going to take this opportunity to thank you for reading this.**

**Thank you for reading this.**

**NOOTTD: Doriyah.**

**Review Please!**


	25. Chapter 24: The End?

**Here we are. The end. The last chapter. It's really been quite an experience writing this. Thank you all so much for sticking with it.**

**Also, this is our biggest RRRP ever! Thank you all so much for the support!**

**RRRP:**

_ChangelingRin (FF):_ You probably mentioned something about Nierak, given how I asked for some feedback on him specifically. (He was the replacement Water Temple boss and the only one that actually made me laugh out loud.) Regarding this chapter, I don't think Demise went down too easily. His phase takes up a solid third of the chapter, and it still kind of makes sense that he'd be significantly weaker than during Skyward Sword; he's already been defeated once and spent centuries(?) sealed inside of the Master Sword, where he _technically_ still is. It's only through Ganondorf's defeat that Demise is able to get a sliver of his power out into the physical plane. I get that that wasn't explained in the story, but there's the explanation that I'm going with. Not quite sure what you mean by 'whiplash-y', either.

That was not the last chapter, we've still got an epilogue. Don't worry about it!

_Anon (FF):_ I prefer my Megalovania with beats 2 and 4 swapped, thank you very much. And Demise isn't _totally_ unforeshadowed… chapter 7? Right?

_OlafTheDestroyer (FF): _Why thank you! I do agree that battle scenes are my forte; they generally have a certain frenzied pace that keeps the reader entertained while reading.

Demise is not dead. Like what I said with Changeling, it's really a sliver of his consciousness that escaped into the mortal plane. He's nowhere near as powerful as in Skyward Sword, and he just goes back to being sealed in the Master Sword, hence the transparency I allude to in the last chapter.

_S3731997 (FF):_ We've still got an epilogue!

_Cupsy (AO3:) _Uh… no, that didn't happen. Hi there, though!

_ARSLOTHES (FF):_ Thanks, and here it is!

_Epilogue: The Final Moments_

"Peace has returned to Hyrule," said Zelda. Link couldn't figure out where they were standing, as they appeared to be floating somewhere high above the clouds. Demise was gone, finally, and he became more aware of his aches and wounds as the adrenaline coursing through Link's veins slowly began to fade. It was over, at last. He could return home and live out his days in peace, preferably with Malon and Ivan at his side. "Thanks to you, Ganondorf has been sealed within the Evil Realm."

"I couldn't have done any of it without you and the Sages," Link tried to refute.

"Maybe, but you were the one who brought the Sages together in the first place," Zelda asserted. "It is by your deeds, in the end, that peace will once again reign in this world… for a time."

Link blinked. "Come again?" This was eerily familiar to last time… and he didn't like it.

Zelda, evidently, ignored him. "All the tragedy that has befallen Hyrule was my doing… I was so young, and I couldn't comprehend the consequences of trying to control the Sacred Realm. I dragged you into it, too… Now it is time for me to make up for my mistakes…"

"Zelda… what are you saying?"

"You must lay the Master Sword to rest and close the Door of Time. However, by doing this, the road between times will be shut."

Goddesses, no. No, no, no. He refused to do this again. He would go to any length to prevent having to save Hyrule a third time.

She put a gloved hand to her mouth as she eyed Link's Stalfos hand. "Link, give me the Ocarina of Time. As a Sage, I can return you to your original time with it."

"D… do I have to?" Link said, glancing at his hand which held the Ocarina. He never remembered procuring it.

"Don't you want your childhood back? That I stole from you?"

There was silence for some time, stretching somewhere between a heartbeat and an eternity.

"... No…" Link declared, cementing the decision he made seemingly epochs prior. "I don't."

"Then- wait, what?" the princess stammered, clearly taken aback.

"Zelda, I don't want to go back. I made a promise to these people that I'd return once Ganondorf was slain. And I intend to keep that promise. Let me have this, Zelda... please."

"Link… it would be prudent to return to your time," Zelda stated. "Preventing Ganondorf's rise to power is the most efficient way to ensure the safety of the Hylian people. Look at what's happened due to his reign.

"I understand that you don't want this, but… it's for the best that you go back to your childhood."

"Zelda… _no_," Link choked as tears began to well up in his eyes. "Don't you understand what we've done? We just fought and destroyed _Demise! _Going back would resurrect the literal manifestation of malice and hatred!"

"Actually, you didn't slay Demise," Ivan corrected tiredly. "You merely sealed it within the Master Sword itself and separated it from its Hatred incarnation. In that way, you only stopped the Hatred incarnations from reappearing for a time. Ganondorf himself is still affected by Demise's energy, but to a lesser degree."

"My point stands!" Link argued. "Look, you can't just erase history. These people deserve to have their suffering validated, just like I do. Like… we do. To go back would be to obliterate their lives! Our lives! _My_ life! We- I can't bring myself to do that!"

"Link, you're being selfish," Zelda said, each word fashioned out of ice. "The people deserve unfettered happiness, and the best way to do that is to prevent Ganondorf's rise to power in the first place."

"Aren't I allowed to be selfish for once in my life?!" the Hero screamed, tears finally falling down his face. "I've done nothing- _nothing_\- but put my life on the line, not to mention my sanity. Don't I deserve to reap the fruits of my labors?"

"Yes! That's one of the reasons why- the _main _reason, actually- we're doing this in the first place!"

"But you're not! You- You're the one being selfish! You won't let me have this _one fucking thing_ because it's not for _you_?! Because my choice doesn't _align_ with yours? Because… because Goddesses _forbid _someone _crosses _you in your oh, so _infinite_ wisdom?!"

"Link, give me the Ocarina of Time," Zelda said tersely, clearly on the last of her patience. And then she was reeling, stumbling across the vast expanse of sky and away from Link.

He never remembered deciding to punch her. He never remembered making a fist.

His vision practically hazed over red as raw fury coursed through his veins. He wouldn't go back. He wouldn't let her send him back. He couldn't. He'd… he didn't even know what he'd do, but it would be drastic. A hand drifted to the hilt of the Master Sword before Link shoved it back down. Going to that length would be… unwise. He could explain away that Ganondorf had killed her before he could save her, but the Sages would know, and that most certainly wouldn't work for very long. Besides, this Zelda was still important to him, regardless that she was making the same decision that had nearly destroyed him before- and definitely would now.

"Leetle man…" Ivan suddenly interjected. "Ivan knows this isn't the thing you want to hear, but… what about everyone else? Like Talon, and Ingo, and the soldier in the back alley? Do they… not deserve to live as well?"

"Ivan… don't tell me… you're siding with _her_," Link breathed, filled with horror and dread.

"Da," Ivan sighed. "Ivan does. Ivan knows… you don't want this, but Ivan thinks everyone deserves to be happy. Even you."

He took a pause to take a ragged breath.

"Ivan… They won't remember. They _didn't_ remember," Link tried to argue, tears dripping off of his face in rivers. "They'll all just _forget_, and I'll have to do this a third time!"

"The sages and I should remember…" Zelda mused reluctantly. "Shouldn't we?"

"That's what you said last time, right before you forgot," Link spat, raising the tone of his voice even higher than before. "That's what they all said, and here we are! Doing the same shit over and over again and expecting something to _fucking_ change!"

"Link!" Ivan castigated.

"And you! If we go back in time, I'll never see you again!" he screamed at Ivan. "You'll disappear, just like Navi did! I can't bear that! I'd… I'd…"

"In the event that the _Printsessa _and the Sages don't remember," the fairy promised, "Ivan will go to them all and explain what has happened before, uh…"

The rest of his words dissolved into incoherent mumbling as he dimmed even further. His light had been unusually faint over the last few days.

"Everyone thinks it would be for the best if you went back to your time… where you are supposed to be… the way you are supposed to be," Zelda whispered placatingly, trying to ease Link's sorrow. "It's the best we could do… for everyone in Hyrule. For you. Don't you want all the people you've met and connected with to be happy?"

Link paused, mulling it over. "Yes," he decided. "But they _are _happy. Their problems are solved, and this stretch of seven years has only allowed that joy to be fuller, because they know what it's like to lack it. Anyone will savor water more after a trip through the Gerudo Wastes. The same applies here… doesn't it?

"No matter what you say… no matter what you do… you _will not have my pain_."

The Princess looked at Link with an aura of remorse in her eyes. The backdrop of clouds and blue sky started to darken, like it was turning into night. "I was never planning on taking your pain," she said. "I never wanted you to have any pain to begin with… I just want you to be happy." She nodded at Ivan.

Before Link could process what was happening, his companion, the one constant he'd had throughout this psychotic rendition of his original quest, the one that had helped him work through his depression, the one that had laughed and cried for him this entire adventure, the one who was _supposed_ to always stand by Link, had turned crimson and entered his mind, wresting control from the Hero of Time. Link could only look on in abject terror as his left arm moved against his will and planted the Ocarina of Time in Zelda's outstretched hand.

"Ivan is sorry," he heard Ivan say. "Ivan did not want it to come to this, but… if worst comes to worst, just tell people. They'll believe you. Ivan did. Malon did. Rusl did. They'll believe you again… and so will the princess, and the Sages too. Ivan can't say it will be easy; in truth, it will probably be very difficult to come to terms with. But… if you can find it within yourself to forgive us, it would be greatly appreciated."

There was an odd, hesitant pause. Like if Ivan was working up the nerve to say something, or simply needed to build his strength to force the last few sentences out.

"Now, this will be the last time Ivan will speak to you, so please listen to Ivan: You are the best partner Ivan could have asked for. Ivan wishes that we could have spent more time together, but circumstance prevents it. Ivan… will always… stand… by… you…"

"I'm sorry, Link… Goodbye…" Zelda murmured, pulling his Mind Hacked body into a light embrace.

The last thing he heard as he was pulled backwards in time was the lilting notes of Zelda's Lullaby as they echoed through the void. All his animosity that was building up inside of him dissipated, replaced only with regret and sorrow. He was really going back again. And he had no choice in the matter. All he could do was pray.

**I'm evil.**

**Please don't kill me. This was the plan from the very beginning, so I didn't just come up with it on the fly and spring it on you all.**

**If it makes you feel any better, I lied about this being the last chapter.**

**NOOTTD: Nadie.**


	26. Chapter 25: Understanding

**I told you all last chapter wasn't the last chapter.**

**RRRP:**

_ARSLOTHES (FF): _Indeed.

_ChangelingRin (FF): _I'm as proud as Tom would be if he ever caught Jerry. I can't tell you about the psuedo-therapy, because that's this chapter's entire schtick. You have every right to be furious with me; I did lead you into a false sense of security with the fake epilogue and all. I hope I didn't give you Stockholm Syndrome from this, as that was not my intent.

_Anon (FF):_ Destroying the Ocarina would be a smart and logical reaction, if a bit extreme, to the situation. That's probably why Link doesn't do it; he's too focused on not letting Zelda use it to even think of destroying it. Also, this chapter is ALSO not the end. We've got a few more chapters to go through that try to establish this new world order (or old world order, I guess) now that Link is back in the past.

_Chapter XXV: In the Wake of Another End_

Link awoke to the sound of birds cawing and crickets chirping. The clouds over the forest were dark, signifying that it was either late at night or early in the morning-

Wait. Forest? Since when was he in a forest? His last memory was of Zelda saying goodbye as she played her lullaby on the Ocarina of Time. The last time he was in the forest was when he dragged Grawg out of it, kicking and screaming. The Hero of Time confoundedly stared at his hands, wincing at the tugging of his many pulled muscles. Even in the dark, he could clearly see that he was in his child form, his right palm having none of the callouses he had garnered during his adventure. Unfortunately, his left hand was still that of a Stalfos, cementing the belief that everything that had happened was real, and-

Oh, Goddesses. He was in the past. That meant that nobody knew anything about what had happened in his own past. What would stop them from forgetting this time? And for that matter, where was Ivan? His comforting glow was noticeably absent from tree house, now that Link looked closer. His mind flitted to the fairy's last words: "_In the event that the Printsessa and the Sages don't remember, Ivan will go to them all and explain what has happened before."_ He must have just gone to ensure that everyone remembered their struggles.

Then he pondered more of what Ivan had said. "_This will be the last time Ivan will speak to you,'' _he had said. "_Ivan will believe you again…"_

Again. Ivan had forgotten too, so he couldn't be informing everyone. He must have left Link behind, alone in his suffering. It made a cruel sort of sense; being sent backwards in time hadn't even let Link keep his own left eyeball, so why would the memories of others be any different? He was made painfully aware of the lack of vision to his left, for the first time in a long time.

The first time he had become an adult, in front of Rauru in the Chamber of the Sages, he'd felt stretched and elongated in a way that simply wasn't meant to be. Gone was the comfort of youth, replaced only with the grit and bone of a fully-fledged man. Now, when the transformation was reversed, he felt squished, trapped in a body that simply didn't fit him anymore. There was no mental change to accompany this physical one. He wasn't an adult anymore, but he wasn't a child, either. There wasn't a word to describe quite what he was now. The best word he could come up with was 'broken'.

New tears welled up in his eyes, taxing his already spent tear duct. He left after expunging all evidence of his crying, and interrogated every last Kokiri on whether or not they'd seen Ivan recently.

None of them had, although they had plenty of questions regarding his eye for Link to dodge.

The only person he had yet to ask was Saria, and that was because she was probably in the Sacred Forest Meadow playing her song. If she didn't remember anything… that was it. Link had no idea what he'd do. There was no way out of this cycle. Even time wouldn't save him, because he'd keep cycling back into himself, constantly repeating the same actions again and again. There was one way of which Link could think of to get out of this vicious rhythm. Only one.

The Kokiri Sword wasn't optimal for the job, as the rest of the Kokiri may need to use it if the forest ever came under attack from something. Instead, he merely opted to purchase a length of rope from Ted at an extortionate price of sixty Rupees before tying one end in such a way that the hole would shrink when weight was put into it. With his new gadget in hand, Link entered the Lost Woods and navigated to the Sacred Forest Meadow. Saria's music was not there to guide him, and once Link found the entrance to the Forest Temple, he discovered the reason; Saria wasn't there anymore.

Link glanced at the dead tree that grew to a point just above the destroyed stairs into the Temple. He threw the unknotted length of rope onto one end of the tree and yanked it a bit to test its load-bearing capacity. Seeing that it would bear his weight easily, Link hoisted himself up the cord and on top of the ruined steps. He stared for a while into his homemade noose, thinking. Everyone he knew and loved was dead, effectively eradicated when Zelda had sent him back. He let his tears, the tears of memory that had ripped his life apart, alongside the lives of all the people he had met, plummet to the sodden and revolting earth below him. There was nothing left. Swallowing his inhibitions, he took one last look at the world that had wronged him so badly before-

"Link…? What are you doing?!"

The Hero of Time was shaken from his reverie by Saria, standing at the stairs closer to the Lost Woods and gawking at him with horror and panic exuding from her stare.

"S… Saria?"

"When Ted told me you'd bought a rope and were heading to the Sacred Forest Meadow, I already feared the worst… but commiting suicide at the entrance to the Forest Temple? Don't you realize how much that would hurt us?"

"You want to talk about being hurt?" Link wailed, any sense of inhibition and logic thrown out the proverbial window in the wake of his all-consuming misery. "Try having everything you've fought so hard to achieve is ripped straight from your fingers… by the people you trust. That's _fucking_ hurt!"

"Link, we-"

"And you know another thing, Saria? This is the solution! If I'm dead, Ganondorf can't enter the Sacred Realm, so his plans can never succeed!"

"Link! That's not the answer and we both know it!" the Kokiri shot back. "It won't happen again. We promise."

"Promises don't cut it! She _promised _to remember everything, but she forgot! You forgot! They _all _forgot!"

He collapsed to his knees, bawling his childish eyes out. He was so stuck in his throes that he almost didn't hear the former Sage of Forest utter three words. Just three words, but they were enough to freeze the suicidal Hero in his tracks. Link paused, trying to comprehend what she had stated.

"What the hell did you just say?" he said, ceasing his ministrations but failing to stop the tears still pouring down his face.

Saria smiled warmly. "But we remember."

**!0*0!**

He started laughing. It was a quiet symphony of amused breaths at first, but it quickly devolved into an insane cackle as Link realized the full implications of her statement. "So… you choose _this_ time to remember? Why not _last_ time? Huh?"

The Kokiri blinked. "What?"

"Why couldn't you all have remembered when I was dying on the inside and had no one to turn to? Why couldn't you all have remembered when I needed you? Why couldn't you all have remembered when I… when I… almost fell apart?"

"Link… are you saying… we've sent you back before?" Saria whispered as she too recognized the myriad of insinuations that accompanied this revelation.

The Hylian could muster no words, and could only nod.

"Goddesses… I had no idea… why didn't you tell anyone?"

"I told Ivan, and someone else you don't know," Link revealed, sniffling. "I just didn't want to screw with the flow of time all that much, barring stopping Ganondorf, of course. That first reset changed everything, though. It reversed the world, so left was right and right was left, and then the dungeons got a lot more difficult. This time, though, nothing changed. Hell, I even still have my Stalfos Hand and all the dark magic that came with it. And… wow. I still have all of my stuff from on my journey, except the Lens of Truth, oddly enough. And all of my dark magic stuff, too, except that ring from the Fire Temple. And even my eye- or lack thereof, anyway. But I don't…"

_She had played Zelda's Lullaby, and not the Song of Time._

"It was Zelda," he realized. "Zelda played a different song this time, and I guess that caused everyone to remember. Strange."

Saria said nothing, still digesting what she had learned from the Hero.

"Wait, hang on."

The Kokiri girl turned to face Link. "Yes?"

"If the Sages and Zelda remember…" Link asked, "then Ivan must remember too."

Saria nodded, suddenly appearing terse.

"So… where is he?"

The Sage sighed. "I was wondering when you'd ask that," she said. "Have a seat. This will take a while."

Link followed her orders.

"So, what color is a… Healing Fairy?" she questioned.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Link inquired, confused.

"Just answer the question, okay?" she said, somewhat hotly.

"Pink," he answered hesitantly, unsure of where this was going.

"And what color is Mido's fairy?"

The Hylian thought for a moment. "... Pink… Wait. Does that mean-"

"Yes. There is no real difference between a Healing Fairy and a Guardian Fairy," Saria revealed. "Now, what does a Healing Fairy do when you touch it?"

"It sort of dims and swirls around you as it vanishes, healing you in the process," Link said.

"Alright. So we've established that there's no difference between a Healing Fairy and a Guardian Fairy, right?"

"Right. But then, wouldn't Ivan have already been absorbed? That can't be right!"

"Yes and no," Saria stated. "Depending on the coloration of a fairy, it can operate on lower energy levels than others. Pink fairies need the most energy, so as soon as they lose any energy, they have no choice but to lose all of it and be assimilated. Their life energy eventually cycles back to the Kokiritarian Fairy Board and recycled into new fairies. Ivan was our longest-lasting fairy, which was necessary for our cause. You see, Kokiri have guardian fairies for life, because they're already inherently in the system governed by the Board. The energy that they drain from their partners is not only much less than other races, but any lost energy is merely reused to replenish their fairies. Hylians, though… are voracious when it comes to magical energies, due to their connection to the goddess Hylia. That ravenous consumption of magic basically turns them into a fairy black hole, ruthlessly absorbing any magical residue that it comes across. It's why we used Ivan, and not another fairy. We figured that collecting the Spiritual Stones wouldn't take too long, so you two could be paired without a substantial loss of energy.

"Then you drew the Master Sword, and were sealed for the next seven years. The unexpected add-on to your mission quickly became months, and it wasn't enough for Ivan to handle. You've probably seen the side effects firsthand, haven't you?"

Link blinked. "I have?"

"Yeah. Ivan probably dimmed as you went along in your adventure, right? And he got more tired as time passed?"

"Yes…"

"Then you've seen them," Saria stated. "That extra time was enough to drain Ivan past the point of no return. And as soon as you were sent back, he… fully dissipated."

Died.

"I… I killed him, didn't I?" the Hylian choked out, new tears forming in his working eye. By Din, all this bawling was going to make him dehydrated.

"Link," Saria said, placing a hand comfortingly on his shoulder. "Ivan understood the risks when he learned that you were a Hylian and accepted them fully. Even when the Deku Tree Sprout offered to separate you two, to prevent him from dying, he refused. He loved you, and wished he could have stayed with you, but things just happened, and… he's gone. His last words were an explanation… of why he sided with Zelda and helped you back. He said he was starting to wane out of existence as soon as you sealed Demise again, and… he mentioned someone named Navi. He talked about how broken you were when she left, whoever she was, and he couldn't stand making you go through that pain again. If he had let you stay in the future, you would have been forced to watch him pass on, and that, alongside the reasons he explained to you when he was still with us, drove his decision to help send us back. He knew you'd ask that question, and told me to find you and explain it to you regardless of whether or not I remembered."

Link breaked shakily before nodding.

"Now, can I cut this rope down?"

The Hero of Time closed his eyes, and then opened them again. "Yeah. Take it down. And could you not tell Zelda?"

Saria smiled. "Not a word."

The revelation that he had killed Ivan was a painful one. But the sprite's last words to him were that Ivan would always stand by him. That alone gave Link the confidence to raise himself from his depression, at least a little bit, and hold his head a touch higher. Because even when he was on his own, he was never truly alone.

**!0*0!**

Interestingly enough, Zelda seemed to have sent him back to a week after he had first set out on his adventure. For that reason, the three Spiritual Stones were still buried under his tree house. In order to keep a promise, Link removed the Spiritual Stone of Water and made a pit stop at Zora's Domain. He took the opportunity to warn the king about Nierak, only to learn that the dark mage had already been apprehended and imprisoned at Ruto's behest. Speaking of the princess, she was overjoyed at having her engagement ring back, although she lectured him on keeping her waiting for seven years. They both laughed it off, and Link finished his trek across Hyrule Field. He would have played the Prelude of Light, but it didn't work because he technically hadn't learned it yet. Goddesses, he hated time travel.

Lon Lon Ranch hadn't exploded, which was something Link was delighted to see. He spent the night there, as he had once been promised by Talon, and it was great to be around them despite their flabbergasted reception of their single-eyed Hero. He ended up telling Malon and Malon alone about the last timeline, figuring that since it had worked so well last time, it ought to work this time too. He left out a few smaller details, such as their confessions after the Spirit Temple, because he figured it would be inappropriate for the situation.

True to Ivan's word, she believed him wholeheartedly.

The next day, he left the Ranch and entered Castletown. It was just as bustling as it had been before Ganondorf's takeover, which was nice to see. He didn't have time to waste in the central plaza, though. He beelined for the castle, evading the guards in a similar fashion to how he had done it in his first excursion. It brought back powerful waves of nostalgia that coursed through him, regardless of the reversal of the world. The guards were just as mindless as they had been; Link practically could have reached up and tugged them on the nose and they wouldn't have noticed a thing.

He made it to the courtyard, adjacent to the king's throne room. A young Zelda was peering through a tiny window, trying to discern the happenings on the other side. The last time he was here, he had somewhat died inside, and it was only thanks to the support from Ivan and Malon that that part of him ever managed to regrow. Now, here he was once more, again on the precipice of greatness.

"Zelda?" he asked hesitantly, praying that history would not repeat itself.

She turned away instantly and looked at Link from the top of the little platform. "Link?"

"Do… you… remember me?" he asked. Despite both Saria and Ruto having told him she did, he wanted- needed- to hear it for himself.

Her response was a large smile. "Of course, Link. Why wouldn't I?"

"Not just from a week or so ago?"

"Yes."

A wave of relief coursed through Link's body, adrenaline that he hadn't realized the creation of dissipating. But he couldn't be happy. He had a bone to pick with this particular Princess.

"You didn't," he said, failing to withhold an accusatory tone from his speech. "Not last time."

She. "L… last time?"

"Okay, Zelda, let me paint you a picture," Link said. "Imagine a Hyrule where west is east and east is west. So the Gerudo Desert is the land of the rising sun instead of the setting sun."

"Uh… alright…"

"That's the world I was born in. A world that was erased after I defeated Ganondorf. See-"

"Oh! _Oh!_" she exclaimed, a practically visible spark of realization flashing across her face. "When I sent you back in that timeline, the Sages and I must not have remembered any of it for some reason! That explains why you were so confusing when I first met you! That explains why you always seem to know everything I'm going to say before I even say it! That explains why you were so combative when I sent you back this time! _Because you had already experienced it before!_

"Oh my Goddesses, Link… if I condemned you to a world in which no one remembered your sacrifices… oh Goddesses, I'm sorry."

Link let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "If you'd said that the first time you met me… wait, that analogy doesn't work, I'd still have forgiven you. My point is, that second quest was the respite I needed to step back and reevaluate myself. And… I've come to terms with it. Sure, it caused me pain. Sure, it was excruciating. But I got through it, didn't I? And now, it's finally paying off. I just wish… I could have saved the people I had met in that future past."

They stood in silence for some time.

"So," Zelda started. "Could you tell me all about it?"

"You already know how the world was mirrored," Link began, "but there were many other differences too. For instance, Ganondorf didn't have nearly as much of Demise's influence in him. I had no idea what was going on, so I wasn't able to finish people's sentences and such. I never got dark magic. The water was never converted to poison. Ivan never existed, and my partner was instead a fairy named Navi, who was the polar opposite of Ivan in every conceivable way possible. And… any other differences… the Gerudo weren't all brainwashed except for Nabooru, and just kind of gave me identification when I snuck into their base and freed some captured carpenters… oh, and you used to wear Triforce earrings."

"I did? I never got my ears pierced," the princess pondered. "I was too busy trying to find an antidote for the poison water. Anyway, tell me more."

"I guess it all started in Kokiri Forest, where I was summoned by the Great Deku Tree by Navi. I love Navi, but she was more passive than Ivan was and offered more in the way of sage advice- like how to operate a door with no handle. I had to cleanse the evil in the Deku Tree, just like this time, but it was a lot easier for some reason, because the puzzles were much simpler and the monsters only hurt half as much. Regardless, the Deku Tree still died, and I went to see you at Hyrule Castle Town. I took longer to get there, though, so I didn't have to throw a Cucco at the guards to get in-"

"That was _you_?" she exclaimed. "Wait, what am I saying? Of course it was."

"Yeah… sorry about that… Anyway, that Zelda and I agreed to hunt the Spiritual Stones and open the Door of Time, seizing the Triforce before Ganondorf could. So I did, and collected the stones. Ganondorf still attacked and killed your dad, and nevertheless acquired the Triforce of Power. I got sealed for seven years and met Sheik before setting off to awaken the Sages, much like this time. Only… when we beat him… you sent me back to relive my childhood, and I woke up in Kokiri Forest before I'd done anything. I half believed it was a dream until I got my Stalfos hand and nearly broke someone's neck on instinct.

"From there, you know the story. I met Ivan, collected the Stones, got blackmailed by Ganondorf, freed the Sages, and got sent back again. This time, though, we all remember. And that's what's kept me from doing anything ridiculous."

He glanced up at the sky and realized it was almost night. "Oh… wow. I didn't realize how late it was. I should go. It's been good seeing you and hashing this out."

"Wait!" she yelled after him, giving him pause. "We should talk to my father and get Ganondorf out of the picture. Not to mention discussing your reward. You're the Hero of Time, that's got to count for something!"

"I don't need any rewards for doing any of this," Link tried to say, shoving his hands in his pockets in embarrassment and feeling something odd, He withdrew his hand and laid eyes on the little medallion the Deku Tree Sprout had given him in the decayed timeline. Why was that, of all things, still here?

"Actually, Zelda?"

"Hm?" she turned.

"I'd like to find my family. Or at least, what's left of them. You see, the Deku Tree Sprout gave me this medallion in the future past from my father, and I'd like to know where they are."

"Let me have a look," Zelda said, snatching the medal and peering at it. "Link, this is- a knight's insignia! Link, you're—!"

"I know, but… can you make out anything else?"

"It's too dark," the princess lamented. "Oh well. We can ask my father about it after we take care of Ganondorf. Please, come inside; we can discuss it over supper."

Link allowed an erstwhile grin to creep onto his face. It was almost over. After this was done, he could finally meet his biological family. And even if they were all dead or wanted nothing to do with him, he always had his other family to fall back onto.

**!0*0!**

Link had never actually met King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule in either of his adventures. Therefore, he had no idea what the king even looked like, let alone his mannerisms, thought processes, or ideals. He turned out to be stocky, with a beard that fitted his position as king. He wore a red cloak with blue and gold underneath it. He carried himself in a dignified but hardly haughty manner, which Link could respect. In all honesty, Link's mental picture of King Daphnes was a near perfect match for how he actually appeared.

"You must be Link," the king boomed after recovering from the shock of meeting the monocular Hylian. "My daughter has told me much about you. It is a pleasure to finally meet your acquaintance."

He had a voice perfect for his role. Confident and poised, but not altogether demanding. "The pleasure is mine, Your Highness," the Hero of Time replied, bowing. "Last time I tried to speak with you, you were… well, dead, so I consider myself lucky to have met you even in spite of that."

"Father, that which I foresaw has already come to pass," Zelda revealed. "Ganondorf betrayed the Royal Family, destroyed much of Hyrulean civilization as we know it, and seized the Triforce from the Sacred Realm. What followed was seven years of brutality and devastation while Link was sealed in the Realm, waiting to come of age to be the Hero of Time. When he finally emerged, Hyrule was a land ruled by ancient demons such as the Lynels. Regardless, Link went on to awaken the seven Sages which include not only myself, but my handmaiden Impa, your Sworn Brother Darunia of the Gorons, and Princess Ruto of the Zora. Once all the Sages were awakened, we fought Ganondorf in his Tower, forged from the remains of Hyrule Castle, and sealed him in the void of the Evil Realm. Then, we went back in time with the Ocarina to just yesterday, to prevent Ganondorf from rising to power in the first place."

"I see," King Daphnes said, taking a moment to digest this information. "I was wrong to not trust your premonitions, Zelda. And for that, I must apologize. And for you, young Link… what could I do to repay you for saving my lands and assisting a countless number of people who live, have lived, and will live in those lands? I could dub you a knight, if you so desired, even against the wishes of the Court."

"Well…" Link said. "It's not much, but... I'd like to see if any of my family is still alive. In the future past, the Deku Tree Sprout gave me a medallion from my father, and although I haven't had much time to peruse it, it appears to be a knight's medal. If you could tell me who I could go to that is closest to them, that would be appreciated. I believe that my father was a Catalian defector in the Unification War, but I don't know."

"Show me the medallion," the king said, a smile forming on his face. "And I will do what I can."

Link procured the medal and handed it to the king, who studied at it for all of one second before stopping dead, his features slowly morphing into something implacable.

"Father?" Zelda asked, worried. "Is everything all right?"

"Arn of Catalia?" he asked disbelievingly. "Are you saying that he is… was your father?"

"Yes," Link said, suddenly unsure of himself. "Is there a problem?"

"Arn of Catalia, the most _heinous traitor of the Unification War_?!" he repeated, truly enraged. "Boy, it is your deeds and your deeds alone that keep your neck attached to your shoulders!"

"Father!" the princess gasped, shocked. "You cannot possibly be considering executing the Hero of Time!"

"Traitor?" Link asked, flabbergasted. "I… how?"

"Your _swine_ of a father approached me as a refugee from Catalia in the early days of the war, claiming that he knew critical information for the war effort. His testimony proved to be correct, aiding us in early victories over our enemies. So I knighted him 'Arn of Catalia' and asked that he investigate the Catalian war effort, to give us inside information.

"What I couldn't possibly have known was that Arn was a double agent. For the next year, he did nothing but feed my men false information, sprinkling in just enough truth to keep him on our side. And then… there was the Massacre of Eldin."

"E- eldin?" Zelda inquired, hand moving to cover her mouth in shock. "The most catastrophic battle of the War?"

"The very same," King Daphnes sighed. "Arn led my forces straight into a trap. There were Catalian knights everywhere in the city, and my men were slaughtered. For every thirty Hyruleans that walked into that town, _two_ walked out. And for every ten men that escaped with their lives, only three lived to tell the tale.

"We knew Arn was the traitor, for he had revealed himself to us at Eldin, believing that he had destroyed all of the Hyrulean forces and had won the war for Catalia. He didn't know that we had other knights in reserve, and we killed him and everyone in his manor, save his fleeing wife and the babe in her arms. I see now that that infant was you."

Link blinked, trying to process that information. The warning signs were all over the place. The conflict between Catalia and Hyrule, Arn's seat at the table in Khalinor… it all fit. And Link was horrified and ashamed of his heritage, a feeling he had never felt before.

"I… I'm sorry, my lord," Link hastened to say, sinking into a reverent kneel. "I had no knowledge of this. Forgive me."

The elderly king's eyes softened. "So unlike your father," he whispered. "Arn was a proud man, and refused to bow to anyone. He did not apologize for anything. It was simply not in his nature. He merely pressed on, like only he could."

"Then… you won't kill him?" Zelda said hopefully.

"No, I will not," Daphnes stated with a sigh. "I merely let my infuriation towards Arn cloud my judgement for a time. But with this in mind, I am afraid that I must revoke my initial offer of squirehood to you. If the Court would have fought tooth and nail to prevent a commoner from learning the ways of the knight, regardless of their actions in a separate timeline, then imagine their resistance to giving potential knighthood to the son of the most vile traitor of the last quarter of a century."

"I… understand," Link said, sounding dejected. "Thank you for your assistance, Your Grace."

"Wait, Link," Daphnes started. "There is still something I can do for you. It has been more than ten years since the death of Sir Arn, so it shouldn't be all that much of a stretch to declare his wife Medilia and her son dead. While I cannot grant you a life within these walls, I can at least pardon you indirectly."

"Link, this is for the best," Zelda assured. "The Court would reject anything more, and you can have a chance for a normal life. Beyond that, nothing will change. I promise."

The Hero of Time sighed. "All right," he agreed, "but on one condition: I can swing by to visit the princess every once in a while."

"I'd like that," Zelda said.

Daphnes sighed. "I don't see why not."

Link let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He left the castle the way he'd come in and bought a room at an inn, pondering what he'd do from then on. He decided that he'd first run back to Kokiri Forest and return the rest of the Spiritual Stones. Then, he'd visit all of the Sages to check in and establish some sort of plan to combat Ganondorf's inevitable next attempt to take the Triforce.

He breathed in, then breathed back out again. It was all over. Ganon's plans were thwarted, at least for now. All that was left was to take care of the loose ends.

He still had many regrets, certainly, the most notable being the number of people he had failed to save in the future past. He regretted not being able to talk to Ivan ever again. He regretted his own heritage. But above all, he was free to step past that biting guilt and seize a new life, a life that he could truly call his own.

**I couldn't completely ruin Link. If I completely ruined Link, we'd be overstepping our boundaries and kind of stealing ideas from Acheronta Movebo, a work that actually inspired this one. Go read it. It's a lot better than Tears of Memory, anyway.**

**Oh, and this STILL isn't the last chapter. Sorry.**

**At the same time, I'm so tired of Link's parents being either super-good people or nobodies. Why can't they be evil? So I made them evil. Deal with it.**

**NOOTTD: Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule is the name of the King from WW. I never thought OOT and WW were separated by more than a century, so I thought it made sense.**

**Arm and Medilia are from the manga, I believe. I don't know. Honestly, I just took the names from RyoshiMorino's "Inner Demons", and **_**he **_**said those names were from the manga. Sorry, Ryoshi.**

**You like how I gave the throwaway joke from the prologue an actual stake in the plot? I told you the Kokiritarian Fairy Board is like the Spanish Inquisition!**

**Review Please!**


	27. Chapter 26: Doing it Again

**I don't know what to put here. I'll figure it out eventually.**

**RRRP:**

_Anon (FF):_ I'm glad you asked! I have a quick little blurb set to be published about… a month or so after TOM. It's not much- it's basically a thousand-word blurb explaining how the Hero's Shade works. It's pretty detached from TOM, so… yeah. Not really a sequel, so much as a little bow to wrap the series in. Beyond that, I try not to overuse characters too much for sequels and whatnot- just look at my Star Wars fics. That's not going to stop me from writing OoT Link more; I'm just not going to write our beloved half-skeleton cyclops Link for a very long time, and definitely not in a sequel. I'm actually in the process of setting up a _very_ shaky outline for porting him to Smash Ultimate, but don't expect that for a few years. Or it might not happen. I don't know. Don't get your hopes up.

_ChangelingRin (FF):_ So, you no longer turn up your nose at a Malink fic. My work here is complete.

_S3731997 (FF):_ Thanks! Setting the story up to finish in the false epilogue removes some of the bite of the cliffhanger in that aforementioned chapter. Yeah, it was bad that Link got sent in time, but I got to clarify that the story wasn't over. That's on me.

_ (FF):_ If your name doesn't show up, blame the filters. Ganonwhoref is my favorite nickname! I would have used Ganondork, but I feel like that's a bit… overused?

This is also not the last chapter. There are a few more. I will guarantee that we're in the last thirty percent of it, though. It may or may not be Malon Time. And Ghirahim is locked in Majora's Mask… you can see where that's going.

_Chapter XXVI: Scars with a Side of Salt_

Ganondorf had been imprisoned, with a whirlwind investigation that lasted all of three days. It seemed that almost every day, every hour even, new groundbreaking evidence was scrounged up to further incriminate the Gerudo King. The Gorons and Zora both testified against Ganondorf, and Link would have spoken on behalf of the Kokiri had Zelda not pointed out how Ivan's lack of presence would have cast suspicion on his accusations. The Gerudo had been less enthusiastic about the capture of their king, but Nabooru had more or less rallied a good number of her people against Ganondorf, and it turned out to be somewhat successful. While the all-female warriors were still unsure of whether or not the investigation was fully legitimate, they had largely stopped worshiping Ganondorf as a god. This led to a sort of schism between the Gerudo who supported Ganondorf wholeheartedly and those who didn't, raising tensions to the west.

Regardless, Link's participation in the investigation didn't have much of an affect on him, not that he was complaining. It was nice to not have to worry about where the world was going, knowing that it Ganondorf's pursuit of power had been put to an end. In fact, only Zelda, the other Sages, and Malon knew anything of Link's exploits in the last timeline. Even the Triforce had returned to the untainted Sacred Realm, leaving the back of Link's right hand and returning to its rightful place with the other two pieces. He intended to keep it that way.

This led the Hylian to the predicament he was currently in. He had to somehow find a life outside of the Kokiri Forest in a world that was couldn't care less if he was dead or alive. There was no New Lon Ranch to default to, and he felt like he would be imposing on Talon's hospitality if he stayed at what was now just Lon Lon Ranch. Perhaps he'd get a job amongst the Hyrulean army and work his way up the ranks. That sounded appealing. It was a worthy expenditure of his problem-solving skills and his prowess with the sword, it allowed him to keep an eye on Zelda, and he could theoretically be Malon's knight in shining armor. It was unlikely, considering his what his father had done to the country. Then again, his family history had been effectively annulled, so there still was a small possibility.

Regardless of where he went in life, his current objectives largely remained the same. He had to re-distribute the Spiritual Stones to preserve the seal on the Door of Time, and he had to leave Kokiri Forest. The latter would be a bit of an issue, given how enclosed the Kokiri were. They would surely notice his absence near immediately, and he didn't want them to start bombarding Saria with questions. It would be best if he could group all of the Kokiri in one place and make the announcement that he was going away forever.

He roused himself from his musings and left his tree hut, backflipping off of his patio and digging up the trunk containing the remaining Spiritual Stones. He would return the Spiritual Stone of Fire to Darunia, and he'd put the Kokiri Emerald just below the gaping mouth of the Great Deku Tree. It seemed fitting.

He briefly told the Know-it-all Brothers to gather everyone around his house so that he could reveal his plans to depart from the Forest. Meanwhile, he approached the grove of the deceased Great Deku Tree.

"It's over," he spoke aloud, knowing the guardian of the forest couldn't hear him. "The evil man from the desert has been stopped. It took seven years, but we assured that your death was not in vain. And now, I return to you what you gave to me all that time ago. Maybe with it, I can bury everything else I've lost as well."

He pawed at the soil beneath his feet, quickly scooping out a small crevice. Gingerly, Link placed the Kokiri Emerald inside of it, but he imagined that in the stone's place was Ivan himself. Quickly, he covered the stone in dirt and rose, eyes lidding over with the fruits of his grief.

"I love you, Ivan," he managed to get out, a tear falling out of his left eye and colliding with the mound. He then turned and left the grove again, wiping the evidence away from his eyes and pulling himself together. He could mourn properly at a later time, but for now, the mask had to stay. He'd need all of his emotional fortitude to get through the rest of the day.

**!0*0!**

"Thank you for coming," Link addressed from atop his balcony. The Kokiri had all gathered below him, in the little walkway leading up to his patio. The Hylian took a deep, shuddering breath before continuing on. "As you probably know, I left the Forest and went to greater Hyrule as the dying request of the Great Deku Tree. I was successful, and the Great Deku Tree has been avenged.

"However, I gathered you all here to inform you that I must take leave again… and in all likelihood, I will never return."

There was a stunned silence for all of three seconds, before the crowd burst into raucous noise. They were shocked, hurt, betrayed, and above all else, quizzical. The only ones that didn't partake in the bombardment of questions were Saria, of course, and the Know-it-all Brothers. Either they already knew or had guessed that Link was a Hylian, and had to leave the forest for his own life.

Eventually, the commotion died down, and Link resumed his speech. "You're probably wondering why I have to leave again. You see, I learned something out in that world; something very important. And the truth is… when you all said that I wasn't a _real_ Kokiri… you were right. I was never a Kokiri to begin with. I'm from outside the forest, raised here due to unfortunate circumstances. The only reason I wasn't turned into a Skull Kid was because the Great Deku Tree blessed me with protection from the forest's natural defenses. That protection wore off a bit of time ago, and now I have this to prove my point."

Link took that opportunity to reveal his Stalfos hand, and the gathered Kokiri rioted, shaken to the core by this revelation. He let the chaos run its course, making sure to observe the crowd for anything particularly worrying. The Hylian took the time to note how the Stalfos Hand, which usually extended up to about halfway between his elbow and shoulder, seemed slightly longer than he had last remembered it being, as if the corruption was still infinitesimally creeping further along his body. But that was impossible; the Great Deku Tree had prevented that on the eve of his second quest. Fortunately, he didn't see anything else of note, although he did notice that Lado, Sodo, Mido, Tido, Redo, and Fado seemed much more taken aback than the others were, which was saying something. They appeared almost remorseful. The group of bullies had always insulted Link's status as not being a real Kokiri, but it was only now that they realized how right they were.

"I'd love to stay, I really would," Link continued. "But as a Hylian, it isn't my place to live here among you. I'm no longer welcome in this beautiful place, and it's time to recognize that and take my leave before I overstay my welcome. If I don't leave the Kokiri Forest, the blessing of the Great Deku Tree will fully wear off and I'll be reduced to nothing more than a Stalfos, with no memory of anyone here or of my humanity at all. So I have to go away, and I probably won't ever come back.

"If you have anything to say before I leave, now would be the time."

Link swallowed, praying that the Kokiri would understand and wouldn't bombard him with too many accusations of betrayal and the like. They seemed rather quiet, until they weren't.

"Where's Ivan?" they all asked in unison.

"Ivan and I had to split up shortly after defeating the evil," Link lied, struggling to keep his emotionless mask on for at least a bit longer. "Because I am a Hylian, I was passively draining his life energy without even realizing it. For his safety and my sake of mind, we parted ways. We'll probably never see each other again. And I'll miss him. But I know that Ivan will always stand by me. And that's enough."

A quick moment of silence served as an interlude between the question and a loud chorus of "Goodbye, Link." The crowd then parted, allowing Link to walk between them and out of the forest.

"Hang on, Link!"

He stopped his procession, and turned to face the new speaker. "Yes, Mido?"

"I get that you have to go, but… I think I should make a statement on behalf of everyone here. I'm… sorry I didn't try a little harder to be nice to you."

Link breathed out. For the first ten years of his life, he'd dreamed of this day. Now that it was here… it felt strangely hollow. It was a petty dream, especially given the much greater relief of not having to save Hyrule again. That being said, it still made Link feel all warm and fuzzy inside. "All is forgiven."

"Promise that you won't forget about us?"

Link allowed a wholehearted grin to form on his face. "Never."

**!0*0!**

The Hylian made a point of checking up on a few of the villages that Ganondorf had destroyed last timeline. They were still there, blissfully oblivious to the dreadful events of the future past, as if nothing had happened. It was nice to see.

He stayed the night at a local inn, ensuring that he made himself scarce when a particularly nasty bar fight occurred that very same time. When he emerged the next morning, he learned that nobody was seriously hurt and that tensions had wound down again. Regardless, he was on the road again and making for Death Mountain.

Link also spent the early morning at Lon Lon Ranch, briefly chatting with Malon about a slew of topics that he promptly forgot about five minutes later. Ingo was the only one present at Lon Lon, as Talon was in Castletown on a milk delivery. The ranch girl revealed that today was the day that she was going up to visit Anjou for Summer's Day. Ingo was to bring her up to Castletown, and Talon was to pick her up and ensure that everything was going just fine before returning to Lon Lon himself. Now that Ganondorf had been apprehended, their plans could go on smoothly. And that was all Link really cared about.

He absentmindedly fingered the Goron Ruby as he left Lon Lon Ranch. Returning the Stone to its people was still on his to-do list. But then what? What would he do once all of the loose ends from his adventure were tied up? That was the question that still nagged him, even after all of this time. He was an orphan in a world where only a scant few people though him of anything more. He couldn't find a job that would take him seriously, because he was just a little kid if one looked on from the outside. At the end of the day, he was stranded, like a boat without a rudder. He didn't want to have to drift around aimlessly, because what sort of cruel joke would that be?

He shook himself from his thoughts and redoubled his pace. He could figure all of that out after the world was truly at peace.

The stone steps leading up to Kakariko were wet and slick. Evidently, it had rained while Link was in Jabu-Jabu's Belly or something. Idly, he noted how effective these stairs were at not only tucking Kakariko away from Hyrule Field, but also at being a choke point if need be.

Not that it would ever need to be a choke point. That was just old habits taking over for a second.

Kakariko was just as he remembered it; calm and quiet. It really was a sleepy little town when it wasn't a refugee camp. The carpenters under Anjou's father were just as lazy as they had once been, neglecting their duties in favor of prancing around Kakariko without so much as a care in the world. In that regard, Link was more grown-up than they were. Having to contemplate his own age gave the Hero an odd sense of vertigo. It wasn't important, though. What mattered was the contents of his mind and heart, not how many years had elapsed since he was born.

He took a right at the tree planted in the forefront of the village, ascending another set of stone stairs. What stood before him was the long and arduous climb to Goron City. It honestly wasn't all that bad, especially considering how he'd overcome that climb countless times before. He would have warped using the Ocarina, but he'd mysteriously forgotten all of the teleportation songs again, not to mention how Zelda had kept the Ocarina of Time after she sent him back through time. It would have been convenient, to be sure.

Link continued up Death Mountain Trail, ignoring the Tektikes that attempted to bite him. They weren't worth his time. Meanwhile a procession of Gorons were steadily streaming into Dodongo's Cavern, presumably to partake in the gourmet rocks buried within. It put a small smile on Link's face. It was always uplifting to see the fruits of his labors.

The Hylian moved against the flow of living stones and entered Goron City. It was surprisingly empty, but that made sense, given how everyone had been scrambling to the quarry. Link then leapt down to the bottommost layer and strode over the plush rug that heralded Darunia's Chamber. Fortunately for the Hero, his sworn brother Darunia was still inside.

"Hey," Link greeted.

"Oh, Link!" replied Darunia. "What brings you to Death Mountain? Are you here to have that man to man talk that we never had time for in the Fire Temple?"

"Er… no," he replied hesitantly. "I'm actually here to return the Goron Ruby to its rightful place. I've already returned the other two Spiritual Stones, and I figured it would be easiest if they were all returned to their original places."

The Goron Chief sighed. "Kid, when I gave you that stone, did I ask you to give it back when you were done?"

"Well… no, but-"

"I gave you that stone because of the heroic actions you have done for my people. It was a gift given in exchange for besting the Dodongos that infested the Cavern; to return a gift would devalue that gift. And the Goron Ruby is my gift to you. I never wanted you to give me back the Spiritual Stone of Fire."

The Goron then grinned wider. "Besides, you saved me quite the headache. A number of my brothers would occasionally try to lick the Stone to see if it tasted any better than the rocks we get from the Cavern. I'd always have to intervene, and it would generally ruin my day. Now, I don't have to worry about it!"

Link blinked, and paused for a moment in slack-jawed realization before hastily wiping the Goron Ruby with the hem of his tunic. "You couldn't have told me that when you _gave_ it to me? Brother, I'm so betrayed!"

Darunia just laughed like a madman. "It didn't seem important at the time," he confessed. "It's not like what you didn't know hurt you."

"... I guess," Link breathed, resigning. "Thank you for letting me keep this. It means a lot to me."

"Don't worry about it, Brother. Now, about that man to man talk-"

"Hang on, Saria's calling me on my Ocarina," Link ad libbed, trying to get out of that awkward conversation. "Gotta-go-bye!"

With that, he all but sprinted out of the chamber and away from Goron City. The longer he could hang on to whatever shreds of innocence he still had, the better. Then again, there wasn't all that much that he possibly couldn't know; he'd hewn through countless monsters and had been forcibly aged up into the body of an adult, with all the strange transformations that came with it. He wasn't blind to death, suffering, pain, and the like. He knew how to love, and was able to distinguish it from mere infatuation. He was mature, and lacked the childish sense of self-importance, that innocent belief of invincibility, that so many youths his 'age' seemed to have. With that in mind, what else did he have to learn? Maybe it had to do with all those things that Ivan had acted strangely around, namely Twinrova and to some extent Malon. It wasn't important, he decided. He'd figure it out later.

**!0*0!**

Thick, black smoke was emanating from Hyrule Castle Town. At first, Link assumed that it was a bonfire for Summer's Day, and paid it no heed. Then, by the time he reached the foot of the stairs leading to Kakariko Village, he realized not only that Summer's Day was more than half a week away, but also that the whole town was slowly spewing this smoke. There was only one possible explanation.

Hyrule Castle Town was on fire.

The Hero of Time redoubled his pace, preemptively drawing his sword- or at least he would have, if he hadn't left it in Kokiri Forest like a moron. From across the vast expanse of Hyrule Field, he could suddenly make out a large number of specks moving around Hyrule Castle. It was difficult to make out from his distance, but some of them appeared to be battling the rest. Among the specks were these large, cylindrical objects that periodically blasted rounded things into the castle walls, causing the stone to cave away and collapse. Each time they'd fire, a plume of smoke would be released, and a group of specks would congregate around it to load another ball into it. As Link approached, the features became more distinct. There was a squadron of Hyrulean Knights defending Castle Town from the invaders, who appeared to be-

Gerudo?

Why?

Link knew it to be true, as he took note of Koume and Kotake floating above the battle. It was almost like they were watching someone. The Hylian squinted, trying to make out any reason why the Gerudo would suddenly be attacking Hyrule.

Then he saw Ganondorf among them. He was wearing his battle armor and everything. He was unmistakable, as his visage had long been ingrained into Link's nightmares. But hadn't the Gerudo mostly accepted that he was no longer their king? Why were they following him now?

What about Zelda and her father? Were they still alive? If so, how would he meet with them again? So many questions were bouncing through Link's brain that it physically hurt.

Link then noticed that some of the Gerudo splintered off of the main force and dragged one of their cylinders to face Lon Lon Ranch. They wouldn't try to shoot it down, would they?

It fired, its bullet colliding with the main tower just behind the corral. It collapsed instantly, in nearly an identical fashion to that night when Ganondorf himself brought it down. Agonizing memories coursed through him, and he was forced to take a moment to recollect his thoughts before redoubling his speed. The air was filled with the agonizing screams of whinnying horses and braying mules and the like. And then, riding out of the Ranch on a chestnut steed, was Malon and Ingo. It told Link that the Gerudo army had appeared near instantaneously, and that there wasn't enough time for the two to leave any sooner. Otherwise, they would have left long ago. Ingo was healthily paranoid in that way.

Again and again, the cannon boomed, launching shell after shell into the Ranch. With each shot, Lon Lon appeared more and more like Old Lon had in his future. And Link felt each blow deep within himself, like a hammer to his heart.

The Hyrulean defenses seemed to have fallen while Link was otherwise distracted, as the Gerudo were now pouring into Castle Town proper. The smoke intensified, now accompanied by the crackling sound of fire. It gave Link a terrible sense of deja vu, as the whole spectacle was nearly identical to that of when Demise destroyed Lon Lon. Errantly, Link whistled Epona's Song as loudly as he could before remembering that he was in the past, and that the little mare wouldn't know to respond to the notes. He took a second to castigate himself, but was astounded to see the rust-colored filly dart out of Lon Lon Ranch before stopping directly in front of him. Shrugging internally, Link mounted the horse and spurred her towards Castle Town. He would have moved to protect Ingo and Malon, but the Gerudo seemed to either not notice or completely disregard the pair escaping the collapsing Ranch.

By now, the entirety of the Gerudo forces had poured through the gateway to Castle Town, leaving a horrendous sight of strewn corpses scattered about the drawbridge. Link dismounted his horse and hesitantly walked through the ruined gate, terror coursing through his body.

The main square was empty, with far fewer bodies than had dotted Hyrule Field. Most of the bodies were those of Hyrulean knights, as opposed to civilians. The Gerudo had moved to the left side of the plaza, towards the Temple of Time. That confused Link; was Ganondorf trying to get into the Sacred Realm again? He didn't have the Spiritual Stones or the Ocarina of Time, so that should be impossible, right?

A cacophonous crack filled Hyrule Castle Town, and on instinct, Link threw himself onto the ground. When he realized that he wasn't actually dead, he scrambled to his feet and realized with a shock that the Gerudo were firing their cannons directly at the back of the Temple. That way, they could completely disregard the Door of Time and get to the Sacred Realm without any of its prerequisites. All that Ganondorf had to do was break through the walls on the other side!

Wait. The Master Sword was the last line of defense for the Sacred Realm. The blade had to be removed from its pedestal by the Hero of Time, and because Link was the Hero, nobody else could hope to lift it. In that sense, Ganondorf was still wholly blocked from the Sacred Realm, and there was no way he could win!

Link breathed a huge sigh of relief and tore away from the central square, northwards towards Hyrule Castle. Oddly, it appeared to be mostly spared from the Gerudo's wrath. That was severely counterintuitive; though under Ganondorf's orders, the Gerudo were a nation of thieves, and most of the riches were in Hyrule Castle. Why wasn't it being pillaged? It seemed like something Ganondorf would do, as Nabooru had said that he had no qualms with killing the innocent.

Speaking of which, how did the Sage of Spirit fit into all of this? She couldn't possibly be in support of the invasion. She had even helped to convince the Gerudo that Ganondorf was not their king anymore, so how could this have happened? He racked his mind for any possible reasons, and he could only come up with one.

The Gerudo must have been mass brainwashed by Twinrova, much like they had once been in the future past. That was the only possible explanation. However, that only made Link's worry for Nabooru grow. Would they figure out that she was a Sage? If they did, what would they do? Certainly, they would kill her, or at the very least imprison her indefinitely. But without Nabooru, how could they seal Ganondorf again? Link's mind raced with worries and fear as he trekked closer to Hyrule Castle.

The barricade that normally blocked the path to the castle was gaping wide open, strangely. It wasn't usually like that. Usually, Link would either have to bribe the guard or climb up the vines that nobody bothered to cut down. He wasn't complaining, as it was easy for him to sprint into the castle proper.

It looked as he remembered it, although most of the decorative suits of armor that once adorned the halls were gone now. Maybe they'd been used in actual combat. The weaponry was also gone, unfortunately, which Link was much angrier about. He had no chance of actually acquiring a sword, much less one befitting his own stature.

He heard commotion emanating from deep within the castle walls. Either it was the Gerudo, in which case he was a dead man walking, or it wasn't, in which case he had a chance to figure out where Zelda went. Either way, he didn't have anything to lose by not looking, so he progressed through the various halls in search of the sounds.

He soon found himself passing by Zelda's personal chamber before stopping, suddenly remembering something. He went back and entered the bedroom, rummaging through the room in search of the Ocarina of Time. It wasn't there, meaning that Zelda probably had it. Hopefully.

He then jumped off of the balcony, rappelling down the stone walls to prevent himself from breaking his legs. He then entered a door and found a pair of Hyrulean knights standing besides what was once an innocuous-looking floor tile, raised up to reveal a hidden passageway.

"Kid, come on! It's only a matter of time before the Gerudo come to the cas-"

A powerful wave of nausea suddenly washed over Link, and just looking at the assorted knights revealed that they felt the same thing. The air was forcibly sucked from his lungs and he felt extremely drained, nigh identical to how Demise drained him of his dark magic during their final confrontation. The Hero of Time collapsed to his knees, drawing deep gasps with every breath. The other knights looked to be in a similar state, if not worse, than Link was. His vision hazed over with dark purple, as if all of the light in the world was being drawn out. There was a rumbling of thunder, despite the lack of clouds in the sky, and the pain subsided.

"The hell was that?" one of the knights mumbled.

"You tell me, Terry!" the other replied. "Kid, are you all right?"

Link nodded mutely, still breathing heavily.

"I don't want to be hit with that again. We should get back to the group, see if Rusl or anyone else felt… whatever that was. Come on, kid. There's a tunnel to Kakariko down here."

The two knights descended down the pathway, and Link was about to follow before a searing pain made itself known on the back of his right hand. He stopped and stared at his tormented hand in horror as the visage of the Triforce forcibly etched itself into the back of his hand, glowing a bright gold that shone through his leather gloves. Petrified, Link could only stare as questions raced through his head. How had he gotten the Triforce of Courage again? The Triforce split apart when one with an imbalanced heart touched the full Triforce for the first time, with the Triforce of Courage going to Link and the Triforce of Wisdom going to Zelda. But how was the Triforce touched in the first place?

Ganondorf.

The Gerudo King must have broken into the Sacred Realm somehow. Did it have to do with the nausea? At first, Link believed it to be linked to the cycle, but that was impossible, as the knights had felt it too, and they weren't linked to Demise's curse as far as he knew. Ganondorf must have used dark magic to drain their life forces, like Utarefson, but instead of infusing himself with life, he had to have used the energy to break through the Master Sword's seal. But that raised its own question: it took more than three lives' worth of energy to break through that barrier, so why wasn't Link dead? The answer came to him quickly; there was almost a city's worth of dead Hyrulean knights and Gerudo outside. It would have been relatively simple to drain their lingering soul energy into the spell, explaining why Link, Terry, and the other knight were drained and exhausted, but not dead.

The burning light on his right hand was beginning to die down, Link swiftly covered it with his Stalfos Hand before entering the tunnel and pulling the trap door shut behind him. It would be a long walk to Kakariko.

"You guys… know Rusl?" Link asked quietly after a few minutes of walking through the cramped tunnel.

"Do you?" one of the knights replied.

"I know… of him," Link said cryptically.

"You say that like he's some kind of hero," the knight replied. "Rusl's one of our fellow knights. We were all knighted on the same day, so we tend to stick together. Sure, he's a good guy and all that, but not heroic, per se. Why do you ask?"

"No reason," Link settled, returning to their silent sojourn.

**!0*0!**

They soon ascended a long flight of stairs and found themselves at what appeared to be a dead end. Link was about to question the usefulness of a completely blocked tunnel when the knights walked straight through the wall, like it didn't even exist. Link didn't have the Lens of Truth to verify whether or not it was actually an illusion, but he trusted what the other knights had done, and stepped through.

It was, in fact, a false wall, and Link quickly realized that he was actually in Impa's house in Kakariko Village. Strange, that the tunnel led straight into the castle. Then again, it made sense; she was the primary protector of the crown princess, so to have a quick path to the castle was only prudent.

Link exited the building to find that much of Castle Town's population was crammed into the village, with a number of Hyrulean Knights keeping order. Link glanced around the area to find Zelda, as she was the number one priority to stop Ganondorf, but found Malon and Ingo entirely by accident.

"Are you guys all right?" Link asked after nearly ten minutes of fighting through the crowd.

"We're fine, kid," Ingo replied curtly. A bit too curtly, even with Ingo's… well, Ingo-ness. He'd seen something out there, and it wasn't just the Gerudo.

Malon also seemed terrified, although Link chalked it up to the Gerudo themselves. It was the eyes that distinguished them, he decided. Ingo had a far more haunted look than Malon did, almost like he was hiding something from her.

"We're looking for my daddy," Malon explained. "We've been looking for almost half an hour and asked everyone here, but nobody's seen him. Have you seen him?"

Oh.

_Oh._

"Uh…" Link replied, unsure of how to proceed given his sudden realization that Talon was dead, Ingo knew, and Malon didn't. "I don't know… maybe he's just in the tunnel and not here yet?" He knew that was a lie, and obviously it showed on his face, because the ranch girl's eyes only narrowed.

"Fairy boy…" Malon started warningly.

Link sighed. "He's… gone. I didn't see him fall, but he must have. I'm sorry, but… your dad's gone."

Malon exhaled, a tear rolling down her cheek before she vigorously brushed it away, sniffling. "I… Okay. Thank you for not lying to me," she managed to get out.

"You're taking this better than I expected," Link said comfortingly, trying to ignore the fact that Ingo was glaring daggers at him.

"Well, if all that stuff that you told me was true, then I've suffered through worse and gotten through it all right. I can probably do that again. At least this time, I have Uncle Ingo to help me through it."

The ranch hand's expression morphed from rage to confusion.

"You're not mad?" Link asked.

"No, I'm furious," Malon revealed. "But not at you. At Ganondorf."

"No arguments there," the Hero replied. "Now, go find Anjou. She's probably worried sick about you."

At his behest, Malon darted off into the crowd, making for the cucco farmer's house in the southeast corner of the village. Ingo remained behind, gaze locked on Link.

"What the hell was that about?!" the farmer interrogated.

"Don't worry about it," Link replied.

"It's my right to worry about it when you tell my adoptive niece that her father is dead!" Ingo roared quietly.

"It was for the best to tell her now and not have to lie to her later," Link shot back. "It worked last time."

With that, the Hero of Time spun on his heel and marched into the crowd, leaving Ingo to pursue Malon in finding Anjou. Link had more pressing matters on his hands than spending time with Malon, loath as he was to admit it.

**!0*0!**

What seemed like hours later, he found Zelda. Or, to be more precise, he found Impa trying to keep order among the crowd and asked her where the princess was. The Sheikah then picked him up and whistled the Nocturne of Shadow, warping both of them to the entrance to the Shadow Temple. The Hero of Time attempted to memorize the song, just in case he had to use it at some point.

Zelda was gripping the edge of the small fence that overlooked the Graveyard, so tightly that her knuckles were white. King Daphnes stood close by, trying to comfort his daughter with his presence. Darunia and Ruto were also inexplicably there; they must have been contacted somehow. But how had they gotten there so fast?

They heard the commotion of Impa teleporting to the Temple's entrance, and turned to face the new arrival. At least, everyone save Zelda did. She merely continued to stare ahead, into nothingness.

"Ah, salutations once again, Link," the king greeted quickly.

He nodded in response. "What's happened with Ganondorf? I went up Death Mountain to return the Goron Ruby, and when I come down, the Gerudo are sacking Hyrule Castle."

"Two witches freed Ganondorf from his imprisonment," King Daphnes revealed. "They must have galvanized the Gerudo into attacking. Although they showed no signs of this beforehand… I must speak to the Sage of Spirit. When is she coming, again?"

"She may not be able to," Impa answered. "But her loyalties are solidly against Ganondorf, milord. I can assure you of that.

Link's Ocarina buzzed. He picked it up, knowing exactly what to do, and played Saria's Song. The Ocarina only vibrated like that when Saria was trying to contact him.

"Hello, Link? Can you hear me?" the Kokiri's voice echoed.

"Yes, Saria," Link responded. "I think the Sages are having some sort of meeting in Kakariko. How will you join us?"

"That's why I called. I figured I could use the Ocarina as a medium, given how I can't leave Kokiri Forest. I can hear what you hear, to some extent, so you don't need to bother relaying what everyone else says to me. I can figure it out."

"Alright," Link said. "Can you think of any way to get Nabooru up to Kakariko from wherever she is? The king wants to speak with her."

"Well, no," Saria contemplated. "I can't bring her to Kakariko, nor can I think of any way she could get up there in her current… predicament. But I have another solution."

"What do you mean?" Link asked.

"I figured that since I can't leave the forest, I'd need some way to communicate with everyone without having to use you as an in-between," Saria revealed. "So I started setting up a bunch of direct lines with all of the Sages. And I'm mostly done with Nabooru's, so if all goes well, I should be able to talk to her. Let me try it out and see if it works. I'll get back to you guys soon."

The Ocarina went dead, and Link put it away. "Saria's going to try to contact Nabooru somehow. And I can contact Saria through the Ocarina. She'll be acting as a relay."

Everyone nodded.

"Link," another voice choked out. He realized with a start that it was Zelda, who had stayed silent the whole time up until that point. "I… this is my fault."

"Excuse me?"

"Princess, nobody could have known that this would happen," Darunia rumbled assuredly, although the effect was somewhat lost due to the tapping of his foot to the beat of the Song. "And even if you had, what would you have done differently? There wouldn't have been time to execute Ganondorf properly. You did everything right."

"And if this is about sending everyone back in time, I think you did the right thing," Ruto said supportively. "Everything that happened here either already happened in that timeline or happened worse. Besides, like Darunia said, there's no way anyone could have predicted this."

Impa merely nodded sagely. The king followed suit.

"So… what happens now?" Link asked. "Ganondorf has the Triforce of Power, and he used Castle Town's life energy to break into the Sacred Realm."

The Sages' expressions became grim, but not shocked. Zelda must have gotten the Triforce of Wisdom on her own hand and come to the same conclusion. "Now, we wait," King Daphnes stated. "Ganondorf's forces march on Kakariko, and they have less of the Gerudo with them. But their army has been bolstered by a collection of horrid abominations that I cannot find the words to describe."

Link's mind flitted to the Maoqiu, Kumangiriza, Lynels, and Elder Skullfos.

"Kakariko is a fine bastion, as the stairs that lead up to it serve as a natural bottleneck. Even still, the odds are against us, as they have powerful magic users and the benefit of being on the offensive. We must take every pair of arms that we can get, and I must ask for all of your assistance."

"Consider it done," Darunia and Ruto agreed.

Link would have responded, but his Ocarina buzzed. "Oh, that's Saria," he stated, pulling out his musical instrument and playing Saria's Song.

"Is this thing on, kid?" Nabooru's voice echoed.

"Uh, yeah," Link said.

"Is that the Spirit Sage?" King Daphnes inquired.

"Yes, sir," Link replied.

"Lady Nabooru, could you perhaps explain to us why your people suddenly turned against us?" Daphnes demanded.

The Gerudo snorted. "You think I _endorsed_ those old hags? Of course not! Look, Ganondorf's mothers, Koume and Kotake, collectively brainwashed the entire tribe into mindlessly doing Ganondorf's bidding. The only reason I wasn't brainwashed is because they did that to me three separate times in the other timeline, so the first thing I did when I got back to the past was set up a few mental wards to block any future manipulation spells. I've managed to break the curse on a few of my sisters, but in order to free them all, we'll need to kill at least one of the two witches. Probably both. They'll be at Kakariko to oversee the battle, so that's our chance. Is that a satisfactory answer for you?"

The king sighed, partially from derision and mostly from relief. "Yes, Lady Nabooru. Thank you."

The Ocarina went dead. Darunia and Ruto dispersed to gather their own people for the siege, but King Daphnes, Zelda, and Impa remained behind.

"Link," he boomed. "As the Hero of Time, your expertise will be needed. Will you join us in the battle?"

He hesitated. He had clawed through the interiors of two different gods for the sake of peace, not to mention an entire Dodongo-infested Cavern. When that wasn't enough, he fought through countless Temples to awaken the Sages. Then he confronted Ganondorf once and for all, ending the blight on Hyrule and ushering in an era of tranquility.

Then Zelda sent him back, and Link wasted no time in fighting for peace once again. Even when history repeated itself a third time, he had sprinted all the way to Hyrule Castle to meet with Zelda. Hadn't he done enough?

And yet, Link found that, had Zelda and the other Sages not remembered after she sent him back the second time, he still would have kept fighting, no matter how long it took, to acquire this particular outcome. The outcome with the least amount of suffering. Assuming, of course, that he hadn't committed suicide at the entrance to the Forest Temple.

Did he make mistakes? Certainly. Did he regret them? Absolutely. But not seeing this through to the end would be a much more grave error. Sure, he deserved happiness, but just like Ivan had said, so did everyone else. And there was only one way that he could give happiness to the greatest number of people.

It was then that Link knew the answer. "Of course, milord."

The Hero of Time let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, and the first time in years, he felt truly content. He had accepted his failures during his second journey, but it was only now that he was able to fully cast them aside. Malon would have been proud. She probably still was.

**Well, this was a chapter.**

**Regarding Ganondorf's new plan… well… I guess the real question is "why did he not do this in vanilla OOT?" My theory is that he's trying to be semi-subtle in OOT, so that he can kill the king and steal the Triforce in one fell swoop without giving anyone time to react. This would quell any dissent and cement his coup de grace, which is presumably why there's no Resistance like in Twilight Princess. In this iteration, though, Link doesn't cooperate, so Ganondorf has to be a bit more brutal with his methods. That involves brainwashing the Gerudo and leaching everyone's life force to get into the Sacred Realm.**

**NOOTTD: Saria can totally call Link. Link can call Saria, so it should also go the other way around, right?**

**Review Please!**


	28. Chapter 27: Preparation

**Welp, back to the front.**

**RRRP:**

_ChangelingRin (FF):_ Yes, yes it did. It kind of had to go in this direction, because Ganondorf still hasn't been sealed yet in the present despite having been stopped in the future. Time makes everything weird.

_Anon (FF):_ There is not going to be a sequel to TOM. At least, not one that I would ever write. However, I am not indisposed to someone _else_ writing a sequel to Tears of Memory, as long as they cite me and send me a quick PM before doing so. Plus, I'd like for them to wait until after the story is done.

_RandomFFnetUser (FF):_ Malon doesn't remember the events of the future past, only Zelda and the Sages do. She knows about it because Link told her. And this fic should be done before the end of March, at this pace. No, I'm not killing off Malon. That'd be a bit _too _much.

_Quadjot (AO3): _Thank you very much!

_Chapter XXVII: The Start of the Tempest_

King Daphnes hadn't lied about getting as many arms as he could. Children only a few years older than Link- physically, that is- were being outfitted with spears and clubs and whatnot at a nearby makeshift armory. They were also given a smaller Hylian shield and a body suit of chainmail armor. That was the part that Link couldn't stand. In a battle, it was better to not be hit at all than to let armor absorb the blows one took. Maybe he could find some way to get around it.

Evidently not, because the moment Link stepped into the armory, a spear was being shoved in his hands. "Excuse me?" Link said.

"Standard procedure, kid," the knight running the armory responded automatically. "Weapon, shield, and armor. It's as much as we can spare."

Link blinked. "I can't operate this thing. Are you sure you don't have, like, a longsword I could use?"

The Hylian knight stared at Link for a bit before bursting into laughter. "Kid, you couldn't even _pick up_ a standard longsword, much less fight with one. You might poke your other eye out!"

Some redheaded kid next to him scanned Link's body, momentarily locking onto his vacant eye, before nodding sagely as he grabbed a particularly large club from a wall. The boy was muscular, and was definitely better equipped to use such a weapon than Link was. Then again, he also had the mark of Hyrule on his right shoulder, signifying that he was a member of the knighthood. Probably a page or a squire, given his age.

"I can prove it," Link mused. "Get me a longsword and someone to fight."

"I could do it," the squire mentioned offhandedly. "All this waiting has got me really stressed, and a friendly bout would be nice."

"Hold your tongue, Groose," the knight said exasperatedly. The name sounded familiar.

"Bah, what's the worst that could happen?" Another knight interjected. Link quickly recognized him as the Kakariko guard who wanted to buy a Keaton mask for his son. He'd have to do that some time.

The lead knight sighed. "Fine," he spat, unstrapping his own longsword and handing it to the Hero of Time. "Don't break it, kid."

He ignored him. "Hey, thanks for that," he said to the squire as they left the armory.

"Don't worry about it, pipsqueak," Groose replied. "Just remember to give it back after the bout."

Link only laughed, albeit hollowly. "So, how's life as a squire in Hyrule Castle?"

"Page," Groose corrected. "I was going to become a squire next Summer's Day, but… well… I don't know. Everything that's happened with the Gerudo is really messing with us."

"True," Link agreed. They then found themselves in an abandoned section of town that had been repurposed into a sort of training ground. A few knights milled aimlessly about, but otherwise weren't really using it.

Groose more or less dragged Link into a corner of the square and they quickly began the bout. Link instantly realized that Groose was a brute-strength fighter, using his innate brawn to his own advantage and going for quick and debilitating attacks. He was also rather careful to keep himself on Link's left side. Link could respect that, but it allowed him to exploit a major flaw in the page's battle strategy. His devotion to powerful strikes to end the fight early tired him out and would render him less effective as time went on. He was a glass sword- powerful, but quick to break.

A few minutes passed in such a manner; Groose would attack, and Link would dodge by the smallest of margins. By this time, the page was sweating profusely, breaths coming out in ragged puffs. The Hero of Time had to admire his dogged endurance, but it would mean his defeat here.

In a sudden burst of strength, Groose swung his club across Link's body and leaned into it just enough to score a solid blow, throwing Link to the side a few meters. He brandished his sword, finally intending to use it for real. When Groose tried his next attack, Link caught the club midswing with his longsword, and then wrenched the bat out of Groose's grasp with a quick flick of his blade.

The redheaded page, now disarmed, was defeated.

"How on the Goddesses' green earth did you do that?" Groose asked, still panting heavily. "It's like you're everywhere at once!"

"Your fighting style is tailored to defeating armored enemies, who rely on their garb to deflect attacks that their weight prevents them from avoiding," Link quipped, channeling his inner Ivan scholar mode. "Unfortunately, I don't use armor, or even a weighted shield. Therefore, I'm able to dodge a lot of those attacks that you attempted. The downside to that is, when you did hit me, you hit me _hard_. My side still hurts a good deal, actually. The results of that bout notwithstanding, if I had been wearing something that hampered my movement a decent amount more than these, I totally could have lost that."

Groose looked confused. "Why do you talk like some old man, pipsqueak?"

Link chuckled a bit. "It's a long story," he said. "And my name isn't 'pipsqueak'. It's Link."

"Groose," the page introduced. "And I'm going to take that info and run with it. When we next fight, it won't go that way!"

Link smiled. "Don't ditch the armor. It helps keep you alive, and you're used to fighting with it. I don't wear armor because I've fought without it for a long time, and fighting with it would change my movement so much that I'd fare much worse than before."

Somehow, the redheaded page appeared even more confused, but didn't comment on it. "Let's just head back to the armory," he said, dropping the subject.

**!0*0!**

An unearthly moan echoed through Hyrule Field straight into Kakariko village, thoroughly terrifying everyone inside. For almost all of them, it was fear of the unknown. For Link, it was more a sense of agonizing dread. He'd heard those noises before.

At least the glowing of the Triforce had died down.

"What was that?" Groose asked the air, not expecting an answer.

"It sounded like an Elder Skullfos," Link shuddered.

"A _what?_"

"A fifty-foot tall six-headed skull demon," the Hero answered casually. "And if it's here, than the others are probably here too."

His page companion was as pale as a sheet. "Others?"

"I've only really seen two, and they were some sort of thin bird thing and a giant chained hairball with laser eyes."

Groose appeared horrified, which was a logical reaction to learning that these Lovecraftian monstrosities were now marching on Kakariko. He didn't have an audible reply, although Link did notice how his adam's apple bobbed within his throat.

They made it back to the armory. Link didn't get to keep the longsword the knight had given him, although he was told that he'd get a longsword by the time of the battle. Given the hecticness of pre-war Kakariko, the Hero of Time was unsure of whether or not he'd actually get it in time. For that reason, he asked Groose to stick with him during the battle, a proposition to which the page agreed.

Granted, some of that chaos had dissipated somewhat, with the fact that those who weren't participating in the battle- the sick, younger children, the elderly, and others who were otherwise unable to defend the village- had been brought to Goron City for refuge. A force of Gorons and Zora had also come to Kakariko's aid via the rapid transit that linked Goron City to Zora's Domain through the Lost Woods. While the Lost Woods did drain life energy, they spent so little time in the forest that it was negligible.

The encroaching armada could now be seen, if one dared to peer outside of the safety of the village walls. True to Link's predictions, Ganondorf's forces were now augmented not only by the Triforce of Power, but a horrifying swarm of eldritch demons. The Gerudo appeared to still be under their king's domination, as they were dutifully lugging their cannons into position to bombard one of Hyrule's last safe havens.

Kakariko's defense was justifiably terrified, and morale quickly began to plummet throughout their ranks. Worse, a small, mostly unnoticeable squadron of Gerudo warriors split off of the main assault force and made for Kakariko much faster than the rest of the pack. Hyrule shakily readied itself for the incoming storm, hardly confident that it could survive to see the next sunrise. It was evening at the time, with the sun setting just behind the windmill.

The Gerudo who departed from the main force quickly approached the entrance to the village and were instantly apprehended. Interestingly, they didn't even attempt to defend themselves, and further investigation revealed that they weren't armed in the first place. Also, Nabooru was at their head, demanding to speak to the King.

"I'll be right back, I should go take care of this," Link told Groose before darting in the direction of the insurrectionists. The page, meanwhile, simply stared in uncomprehending shock before hastily following Link.

"... Goddess dammit, we're not your enemies! We- oh, hey Link," the Sage of Spirit shouted.

"Hi, Nabooru. King Daphnes sent me to grab you and your company," Link ad libbed.

The guards the Gerudo were arguing with sputtered and formed an array of half-excuses to prevent the warrior women from having an audience with the King. They disregarded the menfolk and departed further into Kakariko Village.

"Link! Did you just lie to the guards?" Groose demanded. "That's…"

"Got to do what you can to stay alive," Link countered calmly. "Let me introduce my friend here. This is Nabooru. She's the Sage of the Spirit Temple out in the Gerudo Desert and… uh… actually, what do Sages do now that the future past is gone?"

"The same thing we did then," the Gerudo informed. "Aid the Hero in defeating Ganondorf."

"That," Link summed up. "Are you good?"

"I guess…" the page sighed. "Honestly, I'm half expecting you to tell me you're not actually from anywhere on the continent."

"I'm Hylian," Link drawled before contemplating it further. At most, he was half Hylian, as his father was from Catalia before it fell. Could he really identify as a Hylian without being fully Hylian?

Probably. He supposed it was more about how one lived than how they related to their forefathers.

Groose only sighed harder.

**!0*0!**

"King Daphnes," Nabooru greeted curtly, inclining her head as customary in Gerudo culture. Link said nothing, already being on decent terms with the king. Groose, meanwhile, let loose a small squeak and dove into a deep bow, evidently never having met Zelda's father before.

"Nabooru," Daphnes replied, ignoring Link as the youth yanked Groose's ear to force the page into a standing position. "You told me that you were disguising yourself among the brainwashed Gerudo, did you not?"

"That I did," she continued. "But the ruse was up, and it was only at the last second that my sisters and I could escape. We were able to gather some reconnaissance on the new… additions to their army. They are the ancient demons that populated the Hyrule of the decayed timeline, the one that your daughter, among others, still remembers."

"Well, shit," Link breathed despite knowing that it was true. Groose's jaw dropped, astonished at his companion's word choice, before attempting to slap the Hero of Time across the cheek. Link reacted on instinct, however, and snatched the open palm out of the air before realizing that it wasn't a sword. He let Groose go, sheepish, and shot him a look that hopefully promised answers at a later time.

"Indeed," Nabooru affirmed. "Also, the curse on my brethren cannot be broken by any of the means we attempted, which included counter-curses, slaps to the face, cold water, talking about things from their past, or otherwise causing unrest among them. We've determined that the only way to break the brainwashing is to stamp out the source; that is, Ganondorf's surrogate mothers whom can be seen flying above his armies. They're two witches of extraordinary skill, but they've been bested before. Or will be bested, depending on how you look at it."

"Only because of the Mirror Shield, though," Link pointed out. "Which we don't have access to anymore. It's still in the Spirit Temple. In other words, we lack the only thing that can effectively hurt the witches."

Nabooru gave him an odd look. "It's just a shield with a mirror on it. Do you have mirrors here in Kakariko?"

"Uh…"

"P-permission to speak, milord?" Groose whispered. Given the way the King glanced at Groose, it was evident that he had forgotten about the page's presence.

"... Granted," Daphnes said.

"My granny lives in Kakariko, your Holiness. She sells mirrors, among other things. I'm sure she wouldn't mind letting us use one…"

"Good," Daphnes replied, nodding at the knight-in-training. "Get the mirror ready as soon as possible."

Groose wasted no time in sprinting away, beelining through Kakariko in search of his grandmother's shop. The king, Nabooru, and Link stayed put.

"What's our plan?" Link dared to ask.

"We fight," Nabooru declared. "Our goal is to fend off the monsters long enough to kill Twinrova. By then, the Gerudo will join our side, thus turning the tide of the war."

Link let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Very well."

With that, they departed in different directions, to oversee last-minute preparations for the climactic battle that would determine the future of the world- and the Triforce.

**!0*0!**

"Don't go, Fairy Boy."

They remained in their embrace. To anyone looking on from the outside, they would have appeared like a pair of heartfelt siblings separated by the war, despite the stark difference in their own appearances. To Link, though, it was much more. So, _so _much more.

"I don't want to, Mal," Link replied truthfully.

"Mal…" Malon mused. "I like it."

Link smiled softly. "You did in the future too."

The sun was at that intermediary point where, while it was below the horizon, its light still bathed Hyrule. The moon hung just over the land in the opposite direction, and the stars were beginning to make themselves visible beyond the pink clouds that streaked across the sky. It was cool, especially for so close to summertime. It would be a brutal summer, though, with high heat and higher humidity.

"Mal…" Link started. "If I don't make it back-"

"Shut up, Fairy Boy," she suddenly huffed. "You're _not_ going to die. Because if you do, I'm going to kill you."

Link exhaled lightly out of his nose. "Okay," he sighed. "It's not like I was planning on not coming back to you."

"Back to me?" she asked in a strange tone, pulling away from his embrace to look him in the eye. Her cerulean eyes, the same shade as a blue Tektite, were shining with unshed tears. Link could tell with naught but a glance that they were more tears of joy than sorrow.

"Back to you," he affirmed, planting a featherweight kiss on her cheek. He then took his leave, throwing a glance over his shoulder to wave goodbye for a time. She was gently touching the point where his lips had made contact with her skin, face erupting into a crimson blush. She looked happy, though. And that only steeled his resolve to win this battle.

He made for the front lines, taking his position next to Groose. He'd acquired a mirror from his grandmother and had it strapped to the inside of his shield for safekeeping. It was smart.

Ganondorf's hordes was almost upon them. Link attempted to draw his longsword, only to remember that he still didn't have it. To say that was an issue would be a gross understatement.

He took a deep breath and marshalled all of his energy. He'd need it.

**Let the battle begin!**

**NOOTTD: Groose's Granny is a thing from SS, and how Impa is the catalyst for Groose's development as a character. I thought it'd be cool to have a reference to that in the fic.**

**Review Please!**


	29. Chapter 28: Souls and Scrolls

**This chapter was fun to write. 'Nuff said.**

**RRRP:**

_RandomFFnetUser (FF):_ Yes, Groose is here. I secretly adore writing the little Malon sections because her interactions with Link are so wholesome. It's really fantastic.

_ChangelingRin (FF):_ This isn't even the 'big confrontation'. That's in the next chapter, which is also technically the last (It's only technically because there's an epilogue and author's note after that, but I call the epilogue a chapter because I want to say that I've written a thirty-chapter story). Thanks!

_Chapter XXVIII: The Tempest_

Link was the storm.

Theoretically, he should have felt much less comfortable in the situation. The outcome of this night would determine their future, after all. He was also more used to fighting one-on-one, as opposed to the massive battle that had consumed Kakariko Village. Not to mention that he lacked a blade and a physical shield, and was thus reduced to the slingshot, bombs, and boomerang. Technically, he had access to Din's Fire, but the Keese flying around above his head would make casting it a very bad idea. Nevertheless, Link was having a blast stuffing high-ordnance explosives down the gullets of whatever Moblins, Bokoblins, or Lizalfos tried to storm the barricade that the knights had erected. Any stragglers could be either stunned with the Boomerang or picked off with a well-aimed deku nut. At some point, he had garnered the assistance of a Goron, who occasionally refilled his bomb supply a bit. It was never enough to fully restock on explosives. He'd have to get that sword soon enough.

The last rays of the sun's light winked out over the hill. It would have been obscured by the windmill already, had it not been collapsed by the initial wave of Gerudo cannonfire. Strangely, Link didn't see any signs of the ancient demons, or Koume and Kotake, for that matter. Surely they'd shot down the windmill to secure the airspace over Kakariko, right?

Then a wave of Lynels surged around the bend in the stairs and beelined for the barricade. Despite the pelting of arrows that they received, they managed to last long enough to completely decimate the bulwark. A few managed to burst through the Hyrulean lines, but a platoon of Gorons were enough to dispatch them due to the injuries they had already sustained.

The Lynel push was just the beginning, though, as they were trailed by a wave of Gerudo warrioresses and the occasional Moblin Chief. Link gladly pelted seeds into the Moblins, but once they had all been slain, he felt unsure of himself. Could he really bring himself to kill someone who probably didn't want to be there in the first place? He looked around at the other knights, who showed no such remorse as they continued to fire. At least the other children that were around his physical age shared a similar look of hauntedness. The Gerudo, despite their brainwashing, were still people. It was different for moblins and the other assailants, as they shared no real features with the Hylians themselves.

"Link, behind you!"

Confused and shaken from his thoughts, Link whirled around drunkenly in an attempt to figure out who had called him. He was cut off by a resounding _whump_, and then the sound of a body collapsing to the ground. He finally located the source of the noise; an unconscious Gerudo warrioress was strewn across the ground, with a painful-looking lump on her head where Groose had whacked her with his club.

"Don't zone out like that again, okay?" he demanded.

After assuring the page that he wouldn't let himself get backstabbed, Link's attention was stolen once again by the incoming horde. This time, it was the Kumangiriza. It also heralded a wholly new wave of Bokoblins to cover its attack. Arrows flew at the wretched beast, but due to its unnatural thinness, none of them connected.

Link glanced at Groose and nodded. "Let's go take out that Kumangiriza."

"Kooma-what now?" Groose repeated. "Is that the… that thing?"

"Yes," Link certified. "It's weak to blunt trauma. That's where you come in. I'll distract it, you go for its limbs."

Shakily, the page nodded back. And with that, they leapt into the stream of monsters attempting to break through the Hyrulean Knights' shield wall. Interestingly, they received much less of a fight than they anticipated, as most of the lesser monsters flowed straight past the pair. Only those that were directly blocked by Link and Groose deigned to attack them. This was more of a problem for Groose, who had a larger frame and build, but the page had a much easier time of besting the monsters than Link would have.

The Kumangiriza was different. It sized up the duo and evidently believed that it they weren't much of a threat. It relished the ability to get a pair of quick kills to partially satiate its bloodlust, and it charged with a speed that belied its size.

Link shot a number of Deku Seeds at the Kumangiriza. He missed horribly each and every time, but it was enough to grab the beast's attention away from Groose. With an unearthly roar, it swung its razor-sharp beak towards the Hero of Time, who wasn't quite able to dodge in time and received a shallow gash along his arm. It spurted some blood, but it was nowhere near the most egregious wound Link had been subjected to in his lifetime. For that reason, the Hylian was able to ignore it and continue avoiding the beak attacks.

Groose, for his part, was trying his best to land a devastating blow on one of the Kumangiriza's limbs, but every time he went for something, he'd get ambushed by a pack of Bokoblins and be forced to defend himself. This charade went on for some time until another wall of Lynels galloped over the stairs, firing man-sized arrows into the village indiscriminately. Link and Groose carefully led the Kumangiriza over to the Lynels as a small group of other children soldiers trailed them, doing their best to cover the Hylians' advance. They managed to use the Kumangiriza's wanton pursuit of their blood to snap the Lynels' bows, forcing them to retreat for a time.

Then a largely Gerudo force of Hyrulean Knights managed to tear through enough of the battlefield to reach Link. The un-brainwashed warrior women had assimilated quite well, and were arguably among the more effective groups on the field.

They managed to hold off the horde long enough for Groose to finally land a good hit on the Kumangiriza's left rear leg. It went down slowly, flailing about in its death throes even as the page repeatedly bashed it over the head with his club. Its beak cut down friend and foe alike before finally going still.

"They can die!" some knight hollered. The rest of the Hyrulean forces took up the cry, galvanizing them into a full offensive push to claim the stone steps.

_They can die._

As if to herald their accomplishment, an Elder Skullfos finished climbing the natural stone of the mountain, thus flanking the vast majority of the Hyrulean forces. Worse, on its shoulders and in its hands were a full squadron of Gerudo, armed and ready to fight. To add to the forces, a tidal wave of red Tektites had swarmed around the Skullfos in an effort to protect it as it dropped off its female cargo.

"Groose! We have to kill that Skullfos!" Link yelled as he shot yet another Dinolfos in the face.

"How?" the page yelled back, smacking a Stalchild so hard that its deceased corpse also killed those standing behind it.

"No idea. I'll figure that out when we get to it!" Link hollered, lobbing his last bomb into the mosh pit of monsters before clawing his way back into Kakariko Village. On the way, he tripped on something and collapsed onto the dirt. He recognized the thing attached to his foot as the hilt of a longsword, but attempting to grab it revealed that much of the actual sword was broken, leaving Link with a short and jagged edge that was about three-fourths the length of the Kokiri Sword. It was light enough that even his Stalfos Hand could lift it, so he didn't mind the lack of range all that much. A full sword would have been nice, though.

He and Groose sprinted all the way across the town, picking up Groose's friend from the academy, Pipit, along the way. He said he was more of an archer than a melee fighter, so Link lent him his slingshot and whatever seeds he still had. It was better than nothing, so the page accepted it.

"Have you figured it out yet?" Groose demanded.

"Mmm… nope. No clue how to kill that thing."

"We're trying to _kill_ it?!" Pipit squeaked, paling. "Is that even possible?"

"They can die," Link reiterated. "If they can die, we can kill it."

Pipit gulped. "W- where do we start?"

"Take out its legs, maybe? If it can't move, it won't be able to do anything," Groose suggested.

As soon as Groose said that, the Elder Skullfos fired a massive blue laser beam at one of the stucco-roofed buildings of Kakariko, decimating it instantly.

"Never mind," the page sighed.

They pulled themselves into a small huddle, brainstorming idea after fantastical idea to bring the beast low. Each idea was shot down by the other two members. Meanwhile, three of the Sages had shown up.

"... But it's got laser beams! Going inside of it would get us fried!" Link protested.

"You got any better ideas?"

"What are we talking about?" Darunia inquired, abruptly joining the group huddle.

"Ah!" the children and Link reacted, the latter involuntarily caressing the top of his head.

"Link, there's no time to be _chatting_! We need to fight all of these monsters!" Ruto scolded.

"We're trying to figure out how to kill the Elder Skullfos!" Groose protested.

"The same Elder Skullfos we just killed while you were talking?" Impa asked curtly, a sly grin on her face.

The two knights' jaws dropped as they stared at Impa and Ruto, who were casually standing in the empty space that the demon once resided in. Its Gerudo payload was strewn on the ground, unconscious but not dead. They would recover soon enough. Link, on the other hand, just chuckled.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. "I never fought the Skullfos in the future past and was kind of working on the fly. I wanted a plan, and I tried to devise one while you all just… killed it."

The Sages nodded in response before splintering off to aid the Hyrulean forces wherever it was needed.

"Who were those people?" Pipit dared to ask.

"They were the Sages of Fire, Water, and Shadow, respectively," Link replied quickly. "They're on our side."

"..."

"Don't worry about it."

Link would have said more, but he was cut off by a resounding cackle that echoed throughout the village. His ears twitched as the noise reached them, and he was instantly on his feet.

"Groose, that's them. Get that mirror ready," Link commanded. Groose dutifully revealed the reflective surface from its secured compartment behind his shield. It hadn't suffered so much as a scratch the entire battle. That was good. It would make killing Twinrova a lot easier.

"Hang on," Pipit questioned. "Why do you just _have_ a mirror?"

"We're going to use it to turn the war around," Link explained. "Basically, we need a mirror to reflect the magic of these two witches back at them. That's the only way to kill her, and we need her dead because she's brainwashed the entirety of the Gerudo nation. That's why they attacked. Once we kill them, the Gerudo will go back to normal and should help us in the fight against Ganondorf."

"How do you know all this?"

"I'm Link," the Hero responded. "I've seen some shit in my day. But enough of that. We have some witches to kill. Come on, I can see them at the main gate!"

Indeed, the sorceress sisters were currently floating above the top of the stairs, slinging fire and ice spells into the village indiscriminately. They were covered by a wave of Stalfos that managed to force the Hyrulean forces back to the stairs leading up to the Death Mountain Trail.

And Ganondorf himself brought up the rear. He lacked a sword, but the raw power oozing off of him was terrifying enough. Arrows flew at him, but they bounced off of his skin like they were nothing but a light breeze. He would be the turning point in the battle. Already, he was cleaving a hole in the Hyrulean defenses, allowing his monstrous forces and Gerudo to get around the enemy for a devastating attack.

"Pipit, could you fire off enough seeds to get the witch's attention?" Link asked, fending off a Stalfos before chucking his Boomerang into the fray, stunning a good deal of enemies.

Pipit didn't respond verbally, instead opting to just start shooting.

"Sister dearest, it appears they caught on," one of them said. Link couldn't tell which.

"Oh ho, I see," the other replied. "Shall we show them what a _real_ fighter looks like?"

"Of course!"

They then began flying about erratically, Kotake readying a beam of frigid ice magic. Groose was able to catch the blast on his mirror, but the page simply couldn't deflect the magic at Koume due to its force. Kotake was completely unaffected by her own beam.

"It's not working!" Groose yelled to Link.

"Aim for the other one!" Link yelled back, slashing down a Wolfos before summoning his Stalfos Shield and ramming it into a nearby Moblin Chief's groin, stopping its heavy hammer from descending onto the helmed head of a hapless Hyrulean knight. Link then threw himself wholeheartedly into the hectic battle, trying his best to help seal up the gaping hole in the Kakariko defenses. He hoped that Groose would be able to take care of Koume and Kotake for now; the agonized roar of one of the witches confirmed it. It was nearing midnight, making it difficult to separate friend from foe.

Link fought for some time, eradicating whatever enemy seemed like the biggest threat at any given time. Weaker enemies like Bokoblins were merely stunned with the Boomerang and were left to be slain by the other knights. Countless Stalfos, Darknuts, and Iron Knuckles met their end on the end of his jagged, broken blade. Interestingly, it was those enemies and not the Lynels or the Kumangiriza that the others struggled with the most. As it turned out, the Knights had brainstormed a brilliant strategy when it came to these unfamiliar beasts; they just amassed a good-sized squadron and held the eldritch demons down on the earth while a few others cut it open. Whatever Lynels tried to bust through their ranks were quickly slain with this strategy. The Maoqius were a bit more difficult to deal with, but the knights soon discovered how to grab onto and saw through all of the chains holding it together. Therefore, they weren't all that much of a problem.

Then Link locked eyes with Ganondorf.

Immediately, the King of Evil snatched the neck of the soldier that he was currently fighting and chucked their body at Link himself. The child didn't have enough time to dodge the living projectile and was nearly crushed by the Hylian's weight. Worse, due to the inherent weakness of his Stalfos Hand, he couldn't even get the knight off of him. Closer inspection revealed that the soldier was dead. A few Zora tried to take advantage of Ganondorf's lapse of attention, but they quickly found that he was completely impervious to their attacks. The Triforce bearer paid them no mind, instead just stalking forwards with hatred etched into his green-tinted face. Time felt like it was slowing down around Link as Ganondorf approached. He stopped just inches in front of Link's prone form before quickly bending down and grasping the Hylian's foot. Before Link knew what was going on, he was being yanked out from under the Hylian Knight's corpse and hanging by his foot in Ganondorf's grasp. Link hissed; that leg was where he'd been hit by the knight's body, and it was probably mildly fractured.

"You," he spat. "I will make you-"

The King then stumbled as a small golden light went out from behind him. He dropped Link while grunting in pain as a kaleidoscope of bright energy swirled around him. For an instant, Link was confused, until he realized that someone had shot a Light Arrow into him. Indeed, even in the pitch darkness, he could see Zelda's indistinct form with a bow clutched in her hands. She shot another arrow into Ganondorf, allowing Link to scamper to relative safety before chugging a red potion. He would have used a Fairy, which would have healed all of Link's wounds as opposed to just his leg, but he had sworn off using them after Ivan died. A team of Gerudo attempted to take Ganondorf down, and they were far more successful than the Zora had been. Unfortunately, the Hatred incarnation broke free before they could so much as get a good blow on their king. He tapped the place where they had struck him, and pulled his finger back to reveal a spot of red.

"All that for a drop of blood," he growled, summoning an electric ball and frying the traitorous Gerudo where they stood. "Now where is that little brat?! I want him dead by sunrise!"

**!0*0!**

The Hyrulean knights and their allies were forced to fall back even further, but they steadfastly held on to the various choke points scattered throughout Kakariko. They fought valiantly, desperately trying to hold back the horde of demonic assailants that were attempting to eradicate them. Meanwhile, Twinrova was still wholly enraptured by Groose, who was dutifully directing their magic beams into the enemy forces. He wasn't quite strong enough to bounce the energy at the witches themselves due to their positioning, but he was at least doing something. Pipit was also offering assistance by picking off any lesser enemies that would otherwise distract his page comrade. But on their own, they were unable to slay the sorceress sisters.

Link quickly made his way across the battlefield, darting around open flames that had been created by fallen torches. They weren't spreading to the full village, fortunately. It meant less collateral damage. He slid between the legs of a nearby Gibdo and then threw it on the back of a nearby charging Red Lynel. Evidently, it couldn't tell the difference between what sort of target it was gnawing on, because it eagerly took the opportunity to clamp its jaws on the base of the Lynel's neck.

Koume crowed as she fired off yet another fire blast. Groose hunkered down behind his polished mirror, bouncing the beam into the armies below. Link grabbed onto the edge of the shield and twisted it in the direction of Kotake with all of his might. With Groose's added brawn, they were able to direct the thing enough to hit the ice mage, who swiftly prepared an ice spell and blasted it at the pair, who then reflected it at Koume and scored another blow. This process went on for some time, enough time for Pipit to realize that Groose and Link had this particular battle under control and joined a contingent of knights defending the choke point at the top of the stairs leading to Death Mountain.

"Okay, this isn't working!" Kotake decided as she flew in the direction of Koume. "Let's get serious!"

"Oh, okay, Kotake," her sister responded as she joined the ice mage. They melded flesh as they fused into one collective being, signalling the second phase of the battle. "Kotake and Koume's Double Dynamite Attack!" they yelled in unison, just slightly out of sync. This proclamation was accompanied by a wild burst of flame and frost magic that spewed off of Twinrova's newly forged body, lighting a few of the nearby buildings on fire.

"Whoa," Groose whispered lowly.

"That's the only reaction you can come up with?" Link said quizzically. "When I first saw this, I was totally terrified."

"I mean, yeah, but they're _hot _now," the page replied. Meanwhile, Twinrova winked at him with a taunting aura. It felt different than it had in the future past. She then began readying a new spell, using what was once broomsticks as wands. "Also, _what?!_"

"Less daydreaming, more killing!" Link ordered, grabbing Groose's arm and forcing it to come into contact with the spell. Instead of reflecting the spell as it once had, the mirror absorbed the magical burst. It began flashing an angry red to prove that it had stored a fire spell.

"Why is my mirror flashing now? What does this _mean?!"_ Groose demanded, confused at the sudden change of mechanics. Link hardly blamed him.

"You've stored one fire spell," the former Kokiri tried to explain. "Once you get enough, it'll all come out as one big old red beam. That'll weaken Twinrova enough to get some good attacks in. Oh, and don't absorb any ice spells. They'll totally reverse any progress you've made."

As he said that, Twinrova unleashed an ice beam on them, forcing the children to scamper out of range. Even still, the blast spread out along the ground, catching both of them and freezing their feet to the ground. It took them a full minute to force themselves out of the ice, but it was long enough for the witch to cast another ice spell at Groose, who was forced to catch it on his shield or risk being frozen completely. Regardless, it ruined their progress.

Twinrova shot another ice spell at them before she changed over to slinging fire spells again. They traveled slowly, so they were easily avoided. However, the collateral damage was beginning to show, as many of the nearby houses were either completely frozen or burning to a crisp. If they wanted to keep Kakariko even remotely salvageable, they would have to end this fight as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, more cannons sailed into the village and crushed more buildings. It probably wouldn't be a liveable village site ever again.

Finally, the mirror overloaded on ice spells and blasted the witches with their own white magic, prompting the fused witch to fall out of the air and collapse to the ground. "Finally!" Groose yelled, drawing his club and bashing the Gerudo sorceress in the torso repeatedly. Meanwhile, Link targeted her upper body, namely her arms and upper chest. He would have gone for the head, but his youthful body couldn't actually reach it.

The attacks they landed weren't quite enough to kill the witch, though, and she was soon back in the air and firing off more spells. At the same time, a wave of Bokoblins and an Iron Knuckle burst into their little arena, forcing Link to stave them off while Groose fought Twinrova alone. Link's broken longsword fully shattered, so he was forced to harvest a dagger from the corpse of a nearby Bokoblin and use that instead. It was about half of the length of the Kokiri Sword, but it was better than nothing.

He heard the short cry of Twinrova in the distance as well as a titanic burst of flames. Link backpedalled out of range of the Iron Knuckle he was currently fighting and turned towards the witch, who had been downed once again. The Hero of Time knew what had to be done. He sprinted forwards and, before the fused sorceress could recover, hoisted himself up along her arms, and slapped his tiny hands on both of her cheeks before twisting, cleanly snapping her neck.

Her bangles jingled as she fell.

Groose was staring at him, shocked at the brutality of the kill. "You're scary, pipsqueak", he finally commented.

"Tell me something I don't know," Link finished calmly, departing for the front lines once again.

Meanwhile, deeper within Kakariko, he could hear the sudden groans of the Gerudo as they were forcibly relinquished from their mind-control. Soon enough, a full third of Ganondorf's forces had joined the Hyruleans, sending morale skyrocketing in their favor. The knights managed to push the monsters all the way back to the top of the stairs, although Ganondorf continued to be an issue despite Zelda peppering him with Light Arrows from a safe distance. Eventually, the King of Evil realized how out of position the Hyrulean Knights had made him, and he too was forced to retreat. It was true that he could probably kill anyone who tried to oppose him, but the sheer number of opponents he found himself facing would wear out his mana and stamina eventually, even with the Triforce of Power. The combined force of Hylians, Gorons, Zora, and Gerudo gave chase until the monsters were all past the bridge over Zora's River. Only then did they call off the offensive, pledging to tend to their wounded before pursuing further.

Groose was promoted at Link's behest, on account for his bravery.

**!0*0!**

What had once been Kakariko Village was now a burnt-out husk; a collapsing structure full of burnt and frozen buildings. No one would rebuild here again, so a number of tents were set up to house the displaced and heal the wounded. Link, feeling worthless now that the fight was over, demanded to learn a few healing spells from Zelda, only for her to order him to look after himself first. It was only then that Link realized how much of his own blood constituted the stains covering his tunic, and he reluctantly agreed. He still got a healing spell out of it, though, although apparently Link couldn't quite do it right; instead of just healing wounds, Link would use dark magic to drain his own life force and infuse it into others. It was essentially a reverse Utarefson, but it worked.

Malon was ecstatic about Link's survival, and she was even more overjoyed when she learned that Ingo, too, had lived through the battle. Now, the three of them were standing at the lip of the stone stairs that led up to the burnt-out shell of what was once a bustling little town. The sun was just beginning to peek over the rocks and filter into the ex-village. Link positioned his Stalfos Hand to wrap around Malon's side. She shivered at the unforeseen coldness, but only shimmied closer to him in response. Ingo, meanwhile, gently placed his hands on each of the children's shoulders, a response Link didn't expect from the usually gruff ranch hand. It wasn't unwelcome, though. It felt natural, especially Malon as she returned the gesture that Link was currently proffering.

They may not have been related, but they were a family nonetheless.

**Okay, next chapter is the **_**real**_ **last real chapter. There will be an epilogue after that, and then the author's farewell. The following chapters serve to wrap Tears of Memory up in a satisfying way.**

**NOOTTD: Nothing.**

**Review Please!**


	30. Chapter 29: Temple of Sand, With Friends

**I know I said that Chapter 25 was the last chapter, but this time I mean it. Of course, that's only true assuming you don't count an epilogue as a chapter, which I do not. Don't worry yourself with the semantics.**

**RRRP:**

_ChangelingRin (FF):_ Link's a pretty brutal character, but a Mortal Kombat-style final blow wasn't what I was going for. It's a clean way to kill; if I'd wanted to establish _brutality_ I'd go for something significantly more bloody. Snapping the next is significantly more efficient and is more representative of Link as a character.

In vanilla OOT, I think Ingo was bewitched by Ganondorf or something to be the way he was in the adult time, so that's why he's so different in here by comparison.

_RandomFFnetUser (FF):_ This is the last official chapter, but there IS an epilogue coming up that I'm calling a chapter so that I can say that I have thirty chapters. You may have been late to the reviewing-TOM party, but you were still the life of it!

_Chapter XXIX: Finality_

The Hyrulean Army was on the move, making its way west as quickly as it could. That was, after all, where scouts had reported Ganondorf's army was retreating to. The few skirmishes they had confirmed this, as the monsters always ran away in that direction. For now, it was a game of which force could move the fastest.

Link sighed as he passed the ruins of Lon Lon Ranch. His mind inexorably flitted to Old Lon Ranch, and was reminded of the time he and a contingent of Hylian knights had stormed the ruins to secure food for Kakariko. Now both of them were gone, as well as a decent number of the smaller villages that the army had passed by. At least this time, there were numerous survivors scattered throughout the ruins. They were sent all over Hyrule, to the towns that had been spared from Ganondorf's onslaught. The same treatment had been given to the refugees of Kakariko. Malon and Ingo were being moved to the frontier village of Norwich, right on the border of Hyrule and the Kokiri Forest. Link would probably go there once this fiasco was over.

"What's up, Link?" Groose asked, shaking the swordsman from his reverie. "Surprised that Zelda came along, too?"

She had. Her father had had no choice in the matter, given her own resoluteness and the fact that she was the only one who possessed the Light Arrows in this day and age.

"No, it's not that," Link replied, adjusting the shoulder strap on his tunic. It was being uncomfortably weighed down by the longsword attached to it. He'd finally gotten one, but only after the battle of Kakariko, when he hadn't really needed it anymore. "I'm just remembering some stuff. That destroyed ranch reminds me too much of… something."

"Old Lon," a feminine voice interjected, thoroughly terrifying both children when they realized just who it was. The reasoning behind their reactions was, of course, vastly different. Link was horrified because she knew exactly what he was thinking and knew why he was so distraught about it. Groose was horrified because it was Princess Zelda and he'd never interacted with her before, not to mention how the 'princess' prefix already put him on edge.

"Princess!" they both said in unison, looks of terror forming on their faces as the princess made her presence known.

"What? You were just talking about me. Did you not expect me to come at the sound of my name?" she asked, genuinely confused.

"O-of course not, princess! We're sorry!" Groose stuttered.

They walked together for some time, watching the dilapidated ruins pass them by and ever closer to the horizon.

"So… uh… 'Old Lon Ranch'? You say that like there's more than one…" Groose started.

Zelda grimaced slightly before glancing at Link meaningfully. She wanted to know if he was okay with her telling Groose the truth about what had happened in the decayed timeline. Link thought for a moment. He had told the squire that he'd tell him the truth at some point, but on the other hand, he knew that he wanted as few people as possible to know about the future past. Then again, why didn't he want people to know about it? He'd wanted to stay in that time so that everyone couldn't forget, after all. Ivan had told him to 'just tell people', and he was usually right about these sorts of things.

So he nodded at Zelda, and she began.

"Alright. Imagine a time in which Ganondorf was never arrested. In those events, the Gerudo King staged a coup d'etat and killed my father. I was forced to flee with my attendant, Impa. The prospective Hero knew and… loved the people who lived in Lon Lon, so Ganondorf razed it in an instant in order to manipulate the Hero into giving him the Triforce. He was successful, and while the Hero was sealed away, Ganondorf seized all power in the land. A new Lon Lon Ranch was created in Kakariko, making Lon Lon 'Old Lon'. Do you understand?"

"You… say that like it's real…" Groose said hesitantly. "This really happened, didn't it?"

Both Link and Zelda nodded sagely.

"Then… Pipsqueak over here is the Hero, isn't he?" the squire asked. "I guess that makes sense."

He got another pair of nods in response. "Just, uh," Link began, "don't tell anyone, please?"

Groose snorted. "You got it, oh savior of Hyrule!"

"Never call me that again," the Hero ordered, unenthused.

**!0*0!**

The chase across Hyrule continued, leading the Hyrulean forces all the way to the Gerudo Wasteland. Numerous skirmishes had dotted the hunt, and each of them had followed a similar formula. The Hyruleans would catch up to Ganondorf's forces and inflict their casualties. Due to their inherently chaotic nature, the monsters would begin to flee as soon as the tide of the battle turned against them, even going so far as to lob their comrades at the attacking armada in order to ensure their own safety. There were a few notable exceptions, namely the Lynels, who could effectively coordinate offensives and assaults with devastating effects, but the Gorons, Zora, and Gerudo were ensuring that the lion-centaurs went extinct by the end of the war.

The Gerudo Desert was mostly… deserted. No life dared to eke out an existence amidst the scorching sand, except the Leevers. The last of Ganondorf's forces were last seen crossing into the Haunted Wastelands, almost like they were beelining to the Spirit Temple.

Unfortunately, it appeared as though the Hyruleans were exhausted at their breakneck pace across Hyrule Field. They'd suffered through two days of nonstop marching and fighting; the soldiers would need to rest before they could continue on. Link took the opportunity to talk to Saria, something he hadn't really done in a while- excluding the time he used her as a relay for Nabooru. He also made sure that he taught at least a few of the Gerudo the Song of Storms, to remedy the problem that they had had throughout their lives. He figured he owed it to Oonamu, at the very least.

Once all that was done, Link figured that he could have some time to himself for once as the army recuperated. Maybe he'd have a nice, relaxing chat with Zelda about the nature of all those paradoxes. They'd been irking him lately. Moreover, he wished that Malon was there; she always knew how to lift his spirits. Regrettably, his relaxation time was interrupted by Groose, who told him that Nabooru had sent for both of them for some reason. Interest overcoming his unhappiness about not having down time, Link followed the squire to meet the Sage of Spirit. Interestingly, a small task force of assorted races had also gathered there, alongside the other Sages and Zelda.

"Thank you all for coming," Nabooru began. "I'll make this quick: I can get all of us to the Spirit Temple in an instant. That's where Ganondorf is going. We can end this war right here and right now."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," a Hylian knight interjected. "How could we possibly get there before Ganondorf does? I mean, most of us haven't ever been this far west, so we would be going much slower than the monsters are. There's no way that we could get to wherever it is we're going before they will. And even then, what will we accomplish? Come on!"

"What? Slow down, you're talking too fast," a Goron rumbled.

"We don't know where we're going," the knight repeated extremely slowly, using exaggerated hand movements at each word. It was insulting, and many of the Gorons looked offended. Granted, they had every right to be. In fact, everyone who wasn't a Hylian, and even a few that were, had their faces fall. It was evident that they disliked that Hylian's conduct.

"_Surely_ I misunderstood you," another Goron said, eyes narrowing. "Surely you didn't just insult my Brother."

"Gentlemen," Impa interjected. Link hadn't even noticed that she was there. Then again, Zelda was present, so the assumption that her guardian wouldn't also be watching over the proceedings was stupid. "We are wasting time. Nabooru, like myself and both princesses present, are the Sages of the various temples scattered across Hyrule. The Spirit Temple is one such place, and a Sage can easily warp themselves and others to their respective warp altars. Does everyone understand?"

Those present nodded.

"Good. Nabooru, if you may teleport us there…"

Dutifully, the Gerudo whistled the Requiem of Spirit. Everyone excluding Link and the five other Sages present appeared bewildered, until the warm orange light of holy energy scooped them up and instantaneously warped the group straight onto the altar just outside of the Goddess of Sand.

To their terror, the monsters that constituted Ganondorf's forces had already reached the Temple, and had set up little fires just outside. Fortunately, the Gerudo king himself was nowhere in sight, and none of the creatures had noticed the sudden appearance of their nemeses. Silently, the task force sprinted across the dunes and into the Spirit Temple, unnoticed by anyone. This was done with the exception of Link, who braved the outskirts of the monster camp to visit the Great Fairy's Fountain just within the area, picking up Nayru's Love as a reward.

As soon as the strike force entered the Temple, though, they ran into a problem. There were three branching paths. The leftmost one was blocked by a torrential spout of water that no one could pass, not even the Zora. To their right was a tiny tunnel that none of the fully-grown knights could enter, let alone someone like a Goron. Above them was a larger hole that appeared large enough for anyone to fit through, but it necessitated the Longshot to access, and the Longshot was still in the Water Temple, which was beneath the entirety of Lake Hylia. Going back to there would not be prudent.

"What do we do now?" a Zora inquired, trying her best to remain calm.

"These three branches connect in a main room on the second floor," Link explained. "If me, Groose, Zelda, and Ruto go through the right side, we can deactivate the water spout on the left from the other side. That should allow everyone to pass through. If anything goes wrong, I can use Saria to talk to Nabooru. Also, Darunia, can I borrow the Megaton Hammer?"

Some of the Gorons looked affronted. Their chief, meanwhile, casually procured the tribe's legendary weapon and offered it to the Hylian. He handed it off to Groose, given how the Hero of Time could barely even lift the Hammer what with his age and Stalfos hand, let alone use it in battle.

"I'll give it back when I'm done!" Link hollered as he crawled into the small tunnel. After far too long, he emerged on the significantly hotter other side. It was at a higher temperature due to the strangely cylindrical flames that dotted the room. After he left the tunnel, Zelda exited, followed by Ruto and then Groose.

"If I never have to do that again, it'll be too soon," Groose complained, rubbing his sore back.

"You've got about twenty seconds," Ruto observed, directing the squire towards the other tunnel that led to the second story. "Might as well get it out of the way now."

"But there are doors right there!"

"They loop back into each other," Link explained solemnly. "This one's shorter. I promise."

With that, he hopped onto the central platform and began pulling himself through the tunnel. He heard a series of agonized grunts behind him as Groose clambered through the cramped space, finally reaching the other side.

"Oh, thank the Goddesses," the knight in training huffed.

"Don't be so melodramatic, Groose," Zelda sighed, exiting the crawlspace.

"O- of course, milady," the squire hastened to apologize.

"And don't call me 'milady'. I prefer Zelda."

"Yes, mil- er, I mean, Zelda…"

"Come on, let's get going!" Ruto ordered as she entered the area, storming towards the door and opening it. They followed, and after triggering a diamond switch to cause an iron grate to open, the children ascended the rough stone wall.

They left the room with a giant hole in the earthen wall and found themselves in the central chamber, complete with a miniature Sand Goddess taking up half of the room. Groose was awestruck, and Link was busy trying to figure out how they could get to the other side, so they didn't hear and see what Zelda and Ruto did.

Before the boys knew what was happening, they were being dragged back into the smaller room behind them by the other two members of their party.

"What?!" they demanded as the door slammed shut behind them.

"You didn't see that?!" Zelda, in turn, screeched. "You're lucky he didn't spot us!"

"We just saw Ganondorf walk into the Sand Goddess's face," Ruto explained smartly. "Isn't that where you fought Twinrova in the future past?"

"Yup," Link confirmed. "Well, if he's in there, then he's not going to cross us. Let's just figure out a way to get up to the other side."

"I could toss pipsqueak up onto the other platform, and then we can get both of you onto that little area," Groose suggested.

"That could work… but no," Link vetoed. "I don't think we're strong enough to lift you the whole way up. Who's the lightest one here?"

"That'd probably be me," Ruto said. "Zoras don't weigh much. It helps us float easier."

"Got it," the Hero of Time stated. "So Ruto, Zelda, me, Groose. That's our weight order. Right?"

"Right…"

"Groose is also the strongest one here. So we need some way of getting him up onto that platform first. I think the best course of action is that I get on my hands and knees to give Groose enough height to climb up himself. Then we both get Ruto and Zelda up there, and then all three of you pull me up. Does that sound like a plan?"

The plan went surprisingly smoothly, considering how quickly it had been imagined. The only issue was that Link's Stalfos hand wasn't physically strong enough to support Groose's weight on top of his own, and so he had to replace himself with Zelda to get the squire up on top.

The left hand section of the Temple was simple. Everything had already been taken care of, so all the children had to do was walk forwards. Finally, the found the first room's counterpart. In the middle was a rusted switch, which Groose was all too eager to bash in with the Megaton Hammer. This forced the waterspout to die down, allowing the Zora, Hylian, and Gerudo to jump across. The Gorons, however, weren't so eager.

"But it's water!" they argued. "We'll _erode!_"

"It's down," the Zora tried to argue. "All you have to do is jump over it."

"We're not exactly known for jumping!" the Gorons refuted. "We'll have you know that we're champion sprinters!"

"Fine," a Gerudo interjected boredly. "You guys can be on defense duty. Make sure none of the baddies outside try to flank us. Maybe you could set off a massive explosive that'll cripple them for the battle with the rest of the force."

Everyone seemed to like this idea, even the Hylians, so it was agreed upon. The Megaton Hammer was returned to Darunia by Link, and then the augmented force returned to the chamber of the Sand Goddess.

**!0*0!**

"So you saw Ganondorf go up there?" Impa repeated.

"Yes," Zelda affirmed. "How do we get up there?"

"Shouldn't we have a plan first?" Nabooru argued.

"She has a point," a Zora pointed out. "We shouldn't fight Ganondorf without having an angle of attack."

"Very well, then," the Sheikah relented. "Ganondorf has magical wards that block any sort of harm. The only exception is the Light Arrows, which the princess has access to. So we shoot Ganondorf with the Light Arrows, which will remove his wards, and then we kill him."

"What?! That's regicide!" a Gerudo burst, prompting its own cacophonous argument.

"We don't have the Master Sword, so we can't kill him anyway," Link added. Nobody heard him.

After some time, the dispute wound down. "Okay, we decided that Ganondorf's crimes in the other timeline, as well as this one, invoke an impeachment clause, effectively returning the Gerudo to a female-run society," a Gerudo warrioress declared. "So how do we stop him?"

"We can't kill him, because we don't have the Master Sword," Link reiterated. "Is there any other way?"

The crowd was silent for a moment. "Well…"

The gathered soldiers turned to face Nabooru, who had just spoken. "Twinrova set up a massive ward facing outwards, so that they could perform magical experimentation in secret. Who here is good with magic?"

Link, Zelda, Ruto, Impa, and a few others from each race raised their hands.

"Okay, I want all of you except Link to work on reversing the direction of that ward. If we flip the ward, it'll block the flow of magic within the room. And when that happens, Ganondorf will be reduced to little more than just another _voe._ Half of the other forces protect them, and the rest of us will keep him occupied for as long as possible. Anyone got any better ideas?"

Nobody objected.

"Good," the Spirit Sage finished. "Now how do we get there?"

"There's a hanging platform right in front of the opening," a Hylian mentioned, pointing up. "And there's a hole in the ceiling just above it. Maybe we could get up there?"

"Yeah," Link said. "We just have to go up this staircase and through that upper door. There's a little corridor engulfed in flames, and beyond that there's another small chamber. If you go through the door to the left of the one that you enter from, you can climb all the way up to the top floor. From there, it's just a few stairs from that big hole. We can do that, right?"

Everyone stared at him blankly as they tried and failed to process what the Hero of Time had just said. Link, recognizing that nobody comprehended what he had just stated, merely sighed and started ascending the stairs, the rest of the task force trailing behind him.

He walked through the door and immediately realized that the entire corridor was on fire. Worse, that fire was actively blocking their path. Without the Longshot, there was no way to get past the wall of flames.

"Does anyone know pyrokinesis?" one of the Hylians who had identified themselves as magically gifted inquired. Nobody answered to the affirmative.

A few of the Gerudo started picking up their Zora comrades and lobbing them over the wall of flames. Magicians that had access to Farore's Wind began warping their allies over to the other side of the firewall, causing the flames to sway each time.

"Hang on," Zelda ordered. "Mages! Cast Farore's Wind at the exact same time!"

Unsure of the demand, the magicians did as ordered. This time, the intense, synchronized burst of magical wind energy pushed the fire up into the air where, out of fuel, it quickly dissipated.

With that obstacle out of the way, the squadron crossed the small chasm that dotted the next area and began the demanding climb up to the fourth level. Many of them collided with the spikes on the sides of the constantly shifting wall and fell back to the bottom, mildly injured but by no means dead. Zoras began tying short ropes to the end of their spears and then launching them into the jagged stone edge, where they served as a skip for the first section of the climb.

After far too much time, the last climber finally made it to the top of the ledge, and the thoroughly exhausted battalion resumed their trek through the Spirit Temple. Thankfully, the rest of the path was simple, and everyone made it to the hanging platform facing the Colossus. The group still had some rope left, so they were able to tightrope across the expanse to conserve magic, even though they ensured to break open as many pots as possible for the precious magic vials inside.

One by one, they filtered into the Boss Room and then, together, they stepped into the final chamber, when Ganondorf awaited.

**!0*0!**

Silence.

The air was still, save the ragged breaths of the task force that filled the small chamber. This was the place where Link had fought Nabooru, brainwashed and hidden behind a great steel facade. Ganondorf was nowhere to be seen, which both calmed and unnerved them,

Wordlessly, they continued onwards, swiftly streaming towards the door in the back of the room. This connected to the final room, the one with the massive dais and the magical wards oozing through the walls, through a small corridor. But there was something horribly amiss. Rather than the roof chock full of runes that had been when Link had fought Twinrova in the future past, the space above them was occupied by a writhing festoon of purplish dark energy. Its purpose was unknown, but it must have been the reason that the Gerudo King had come here. The wards would shield this… whatever this was from the magical detection of the oncoming forces.

The group then split into two subdivisions; one to distract Ganondorf, the other to reverse the ward and protect those reversing the ward. Link, trailing the section stalling the King of Evil, quickly scaled the raised platform and came face to face with Ganondorf himself.

His arms were crossed, his back to the group. He was wearing the very same battle garb that he had been wearing on the day he'd assassinated the king, in the decayed timeline. It made Link sick. A massive claymore was wedged into the platform just next to him, completing the image of regality. He breathed out a sigh, although it didn't carry the usual connotations of such a noise. It was angered, violent, haunting.

"You arrived early," he said, unnervingly calm. "Earlier than expected."

Nobody said anything, partly because they were unsure of how to proceed, and mostly because the longer this silence lasted, the more time the mages would have to reverse the wards.

"I could throw you to the demons outside, but that would leave you with an infinitesimal chance to survive. I don't take chances anymore. I suppose I'll simply have to kill you all now and face the remainder of your forces later."

With that, Ganondorf clutched the pommel of his blade and wrenched it out of the stone, shards of misshapen rock coming free with the sword. He turned, and he was practically spewing black magic from the back of his left hand, the one that held the Triforce of Power. The king then slammed his open palm into the center of the enormous dais, tendrils of dark energy oozing into the rocks.

And then pain erupted throughout Link's entire body.

The Hero of Time, along with the rest of the force, collapsed. Each breath sent stabbing waves of torment dancing through him. Shakily, he got on his hands and knees, but his Stalfos hand gave out and he collapsed again. The other fighters hadn't experienced quite the same problem as the young Hero had, as they were at least able to stand up the first try.

"Bloody hell," someone grumbled. "How do we fight that?"

No one answered.

And Ganondorf was upon them, swinging his sword into the group at high enough speeds to tear a man cleanly in two. Several soldiers died right there, mostly Hylians. Yet more fell as Ganondorf cleaved through the weakened force. Each death he saw sent a cold shock of muted agony coursing through Link himself, who had only now managed to get his own feet under him. If only he could have been there, maybe they wouldn't have died.

If he hadn't been trapped in the body of a child, he could have saved them.

Suddenly, he was being tackled to the ground by Groose, just narrowly avoiding a swipe from the dark king's blade. The attack would have lopped off his hat if he had been wearing it, or his head if he hadn't been moved out of the way. He shot an apologetic glance at his squire friend before looking up from his position- and seeing Ganondorf staring down his nose at the pair of youths, a visage made even more terrifying by the violent vermillion cloud of dark magic hanging above them.

More specifically, Link.

"You," Ganondorf seethed.

"Me," Link agreed before scrambling to his feet and sprinting away. Groose tried to call out for help from the Hero, but Ganondorf completely ignored the squire in favor of flinging as many plasma balls as possible at the fleeing Hylian. This allowed an even mix of Hylians, Zora, and Gerudo to pin Ganondorf temporarily, but a violent burst of magic threw them all away like Peahat larva in a typhoon. After that interruption, he continued his pursuit of Link as if nothing had happened. His magic, augmented by the Triforce of Power, rendered him completely invulnerable to anything the task force tried to throw at him. Arrows proved useless, as they merely bounced off of his skin like it was made of steel. Knives to the back courtesy of the Sheikah did about as much to him as a blade of grass, and everything else was merely ignored. Simply put, they could not so much as scratch Ganondorf in this current situation.

A few of the mages that had been working on reversing the ward spent some energy to heal the task force enough to sustain a blow or two from the Demon King. However, this caused Ganondorf to realize that the magicians were present, and he finally changed targets from Link to the healers. This momentary lapse in battle, however, allowed the healed fighters to be able to cluster up around Ganondorf again, only to be blasted backwards yet again.

Then Groose drove his club into Ganondorf's pelvis.

It probably didn't hurt all that much due to his wards, but the attack was evidently felt just enough to make the Gerudo male instinctually scrunch up. This permitted a largely Zora force to pin Ganondorf's boots into the stone below with their spears, severely limiting his movement. After a bit of time, the king managed to yank all of the javelins out of his boots, immediately cutting down the Sheikah that was in the midst of trying to drive a kunai through his neck.

The Gerudo King finally descended from the dais, dropping down to right in front of the second half of the fighters. He would have blasted them all with a plasma ball, but he was interrupted by none other than Link himself, who leapt off the dais and bashed his Stalfos Shield into the evil king's absurdly long nose. The most embarrassing part was that Link had to physically jump up to hit him. Like Groose's attack, it didn't do all that much in terms of defeating or even harming the Hatred incarnation, but it forced him to instinctively clutch at his nose in surprise. From there, he was tackled by a heavily armored Hylian knight. The weight of the steel he wore was enough so that Ganondorf couldn't simply throw him off, so the knight was instead fried alive within his own armor. From there, it was significantly easier to roll out from beneath the steel-plated corpse and glare furiously at the small child, standing there and weilding a sword nearly one and a half times as tall as he was.

"I will destroy you, and _everyone_ you love," Ganondorf swore. "Slowly. And painfully. In front of you."

"You tried that," Link answered. "It didn't turn out too well for you."

Snarling in rage, Ganondorf raised his blade and brought it down with a mighty "Doriyah!" Link, who was too physically tired to try avoiding the strike, instead summoned his Shield and attempted to deflect or at least block the blow.

Instead, the shield burst into a myriad of black diamonds, sending tingling shockwaves up his arm and throughout the rest of his body. One hit had spent the entirety of his magical reserves, and Link was unprepared for such an event. Fortunately, though, neither was his opponent, who stared at the little black specks with just as much confusion as Link was. It gave the Hylian enough time to sprint behind Ganondorf's back, making sure to whack his greaved leg with the longsword to keep his attention away from the mages reversing the ward. The ploy worked, thankfully, as Ganondorf's gaze remained locked on Link's face.

Now the issue was surviving long enough to make that focus matter. Link tightened the grasp on the longsword, as if to issue a silent challenge. The Hatred incarnation smirked, and levitated off the ground a few inches before literally flying across the distance between himself and Link, blades meeting with a resounding clang. To Link's dismay and horror, most of the blade of his own longsword stayed in motion, hurtling into the dark corner of the chamber. All he had in his hand now was a hilt and a tiny bit of edge not unlike what he'd had after he broke the Giant's Knife. But smaller, of course.

A searing heat made itself known in front of Link. He could only watch as Ganondorf formed a massive orb of flaming plasma between his fingers. He felt through his pouch. It was enough to kill him, and both of them knew it.

"I would ask you if you had any last words, but I don't much care," he drawled, flinging the energy sphere at the object of his Hatred.

"Saying it anyway: Nayru's Love," Link replied, encasing himself in the warm blue light of the defensive magic. The spell would render him just as invulnerable as Ganondorf for a period of time, but it cost him more than two-thirds of his remaining magical power. The electric ball bounced off of this protective shell like it was nothing. He then threw himself at the Gerudo King and tried to force him to the ground, but he simply didn't have enough strength in his body to hold the king. Luckily, a number of Hyrulean soldiers had been watching the exchange and decided that now was the time to lend their assistance. With their combined body mass, they were able to hold down Ganondorf for a bit, although the length of time would be determined by his nearly infinite magical reserves. Theoretically, this fight could go on forever.

Then things got worse.

An unearthly moan echoed throughout the chamber as a octuplet of midnight black orbs appeared out of the gloom of the violet void above them. It flung itself out of the portal like a calf being birthed, revealing an unnaturally spindly array of crablike legs. The crab analogy was augmented by the massive two-pronged claws, and completed by the rust-red armor. Ridiculously, it didn't even appear to have fully extricated itself from the purple above, but it was perfectly content with plucking several of the fighters up off the platform and lobbing them at the ground fast enough to kill on impact. A few unfortunate fellows, mostly Gerudo, were straight-up eaten, accompanied with a noxious belch of some kind of deadly toxin. Before Link could process what was happening, a claw was descending on him, closing around his young body, squeezing tight-

Link's Nayru's Love suddenly sputtered and went out, far earlier than it had any right to. The last time he'd used it, the spell had made a more constant noise as it neared its end, as well as flashing more often and becoming a slightly brighter blue. None of those things had happened this time, meaning that his magic must have been cut off. Indeed, he couldn't sense any of his magic like he could have before. That could only mean one thing: The mages had successfully reversed the ward, to prevent the flow of magic in this room. Indeed, the portal above their heads sputtered and fizzled out of existence, lopping off the head of the crab demon in the process. It smashed into the dais and stayed there, uniform black eyes seeing nothing.

"The ward is reversed! Now is the time!" they roared, confirming Link's belief. Galvanized, the whole task force save the mages themselves threw themselves at the Evil King, who- magicless- was unable to fend them all off with his sword alone. What followed was a haphazard wave of attacks that all found their mark on Ganondorf. Unfortunately, even with the wards preventing the flow of magic, the Triforce of Power kept Ganondorf alive despite any punishment the soldiers managed to give him.

Eventually, after much toil, more blood, and even more lives, he was subdued. His weapon was thrown away, and he was tied to the dais with rope they had salvaged from the tightrope across the Spirit Temple, with Zora spears stabbed through them and into the platform itself, keeping Ganondorf secured against the raised stone. He wouldn't be escaping anytime soon, especially considering the watchful eyes of the Sheikah monitoring him. Panting heavily, Link found Groose and Zelda, sank to his knees, and started laughing. At long last, it was over. This time, for good.

**There we go. That's the end. There's still an epilogue that will try to tie up any loose ends that ToM leaves, but after that, it's done. No more. It's really been an experience writing this, a labor of love that's taken nearly eight months to accomplish. Thank you all so much for your time.**

**NOOTTD: Doriyah.**

**Review Please!**


	31. Chapter 30: The End

**Now that this is the last beginning Author's Note, I guess I ought to remind everyone of that whole disclaimer thing, right? Right.**

**RRRP:**

_ChangelingRin & ChangelingRin disguised as a guest (FF):_ Doriyah is the funny dialogue Ganondorf says whenever he uses his sword in Smash Bros. The crab was another rejected BOTW Guardian that I forgot about when writing, and only remembered back when I introduced them in chapter 8. Thank you so much for doing this for me! It's not drowning in Malink, if that's what you're worried about. Ivan is everyone's favorite character, myself included! I will take your statements with me into everything I do! Again, thank you so much!

_MarkOfThree (FF)_: Oh god, I'm so sorry… this chapter/epilogue/whatever covers Termina…

_RandomFFnetUser (FF):_ Alas, it is. No hard feelings. And you are giving me FAR too much credit if you assume THIS is the best fic on the site. Clearly you've never sorted by 'Favorites', because there's some works on there that I genuinely could not _hope_ to top.

Thank you so much! I have a few ideas regarding what's next, but it won't be out for a while. I had an idea for a wholly original Zelda story (no hand-holding from MQ or TOM) with a really cool villain, but that got scrapped in development because I don't really have any idea of how to get it to start… I might just upload the final boss fight without context. After that, there's a 1K word blurb wrapping up TOM that I'm going to upload in about a month, and then I have two really weird crossover fics lined up with post-MM Link (not post-TOM Link, I'm done with him after that little ficlet) and some weird stuff. It won't be quite the same flavor as TOM, but it'll have my flair, if that's what you're looking for. If it comes out. Don't hold your breath. I write all of these beforehand so I don't have to have hiatuses, and I only upload when the whole thing is done. And for one of those crossovers, especially… I'm hardly a tenth through the "Source" material, if you know what I mean. The other one is already about halfway done, so expect that in a few months… or years… some point! Anyways, fic time.

**DISCLAIMER: This fiction is, as the name suggests, fictitious. All LoZ characters, and even Ivan to an extent, belong to Nintendo. Everyone else belongs to their respective owners, who I'm too lazy to name. Is that enough? Good.**

**Also, yes, I decided to name this Chapter 30 for noteriety's sake. But it's still not really a chapter and more of an epilogue. Deal with it.**

_Chapter XXX: To Begin Again_

Link was taller.

The transition from the last year to this had been a slow and methodical one. But he could mark his physical changes rather easily as he walked through the gate leading up to Hyrule Castle. He'd grown about a quarter of a brick since the last time he'd been here. He'd also finally finished going through other smaller evolutions, such as the loss of whatever thin layer of fat still clung stubbornly to his face. He was essentially a scaled-down version of how he'd appeared in the future past- a bit more healthy, granted, but otherwise proportionally identical. He'd even had a better longsword made for him by Biggoron, who fortunately didn't need eye drops this time around. He still called it the Stygian Light, but it lacked the dark magic that the first Stygian Light had.

The guards casually opened the gate, although they had looks of mild confusion visible underneath their helmets. Link had visited the castle consistently, once a month, making his way from the new province of Ordon all the way to Castle Town. Ordon technically existed within the Kokiri Forest, but it was out of range of the magic-draining energies of the Lost Woods proper. He lived there with Malon and Ingo, who had practically adopted the homeless Hero as soon as they realized that he had nowhere to go. It had once been the frontier village of Norwich, but as time passed, it had spread all throughout what was now called Faron Woods.

This visit, however, was different. Ever since Link had been informally knighted by King Daphnes- unofficially, because his physical youth and supposed heritage still drew hesitation from the Court- he had visited every month, delivering information on the state of the Ordon province, and then meeting with the other knights and the Princess. He'd arrive at daybreak and leave at sunset, never earlier and never later. Nonetheless, it was nearly noon, which was already an oddity. And even then, Link had visited just a week prior. The strangest thing was that Link was just as confused as the other knights. He'd only gotten a message from Zelda telling him to come to the castle posthaste, and then proceeded to veritably sprint out of Ordon straight to Castle Town.

Link walked briskly through the opened gate and ascended the rolling hills that led up to the majestic facade of the castle. He didn't take the time to appreciate the beauty; he had questions to answer.

Some time later, he finally found Zelda. Interestingly, Impa was also present. That put Link on edge; if Impa was there, it had to be extremely serious.

"Link," the Sheikah greeted quickly. "As you know, the Sages took Ganondorf to the Arbiter's Ground in the Gerudo Desert to properly, ah… execute him."

"Yes," Link replied. "I know of this… did something go wrong?"

Impa looked at Zelda, slightly tense.

"Ganondorf has been stopped," Zelda assured him. "It's… something else. Do you, perchance, remember the object that Demise summoned in the decayed timeline?"

"It was called Ghirahim, wasn't it?" Link tried to remember. "And it was originally housed in the Shadow Temple?"

"Exactly!" the princess replied. "Wait, how did you know that it was housed in the Shadow Temple?"

"I saw the statue it was supposed to be connected to in the future past," the Hero of Time explained. "It was missing."

"Missing-?!" Zelda began, throwing a hand in front of her mouth. "But that would mean-"

"That Ganondorf has nothing to do with its disappearance, as I said," Impa finished. "We will have to look elsewhere. If anyone managed to break the seal holding Ghirahim in that mask… who knows what sort of chaos could envelop Hyrule."

Link and Zelda shuddered just thinking about it.

"Is there any way to… destroy the mask?" Zelda asked hesitantly.

"Not without killing Ghirahim first, which is nearly impossible."

Abruptly, a flash of bright light filled the room, forcing Link to throw his arm in front of his face to shield himself from the spark. Impa and Zelda, however, remained completely unaffected. In the space behind Impa, another Sheikah had materialized from the gloom, dressed similarly to how the guise of Sheik had appeared in the decayed timeline. Of course, there was a myriad of smaller differences between Sheik and this ninja, namely the lack of swaddling around the facial area, which revealed a rather fancy moustache.

"Salutations, Princess and Hero," he greeted. "Impa, I have news regarding the whereabouts of Ghirahim."

"Explain," the Sheikah woman demanded.

"The Happy Mask Shop, a recently-established mask vendor, has been abandoned not long ago," he explained. "Furthermore, the owner of the shop was seen entering the Kakariko graveyard while you were away attending Ganondorf's execution, and was then sighted entering the Lost Woods, north of Ordon. Eyewitnesses reported feelings of tension and unease emanating from the man, who seemed wholly immune to it."

"Then he stole the mask," Impa declared. "It must be retrieved at all costs. The safety of the world depends on it."

Link made a choice.

"I'll do it," the Hero of Time declared. "I know the Lost Woods, and I have experience battling with dark magicians, including ones that bore the Triforce of Power. If anyone is going to do it, it's me."

Zelda looked like she wanted to argue, but didn't. "You… Take this. I want you to have it." She procured the Ocarina of Time itself from behind her back and offered it to Link. This tiny blue instrument had wrought so much pain in his life- more than two lifetime's worth. And now it was being placed in his hands like a gift. He didn't want it; it was a reminder of everything that he had lost.

But what had he lost that he didn't have now? He had family in Malon, and even Ingo this time around. He had a sense of belonging in this Hyrule that he'd been lacking his entire life. He had more friends than he could have possibly imagined just a short time ago, even though in reality it had been almost two years. He had everything he could possibly want.

He took the Ocarina and placed it in his pouch. And despite his charge, he was happy.

**!0*0!**

The trees were more gnarled here, away from the protective and nurturing care of the Kokiri. Ivan had always liked it here; he said it was how a forest really looked. Thinking about his deceased guardian put a damper on things, provoking Link to hang his head depressedly. As if sensing his discomfort, Epona snorted, rousing the Hylian from his thoughts. It also sparked happier memories to swirl about in his brain. The kiss he had shared with Malon in the decayed timeline, for one, stood out particularly prominently, but it was slowly outshined by the one he had shared with her in this time. He loved Malon, but he lamented the fact that the Malon of the future past and the Malon he was in love with now were completely different people. A part of him even wondered- feared, really- that he only loved Malon because of his memories of her from the future timeline. Those thoughts, even though he knew they weren't true, only served to depress Link further.

If Ivan had been there, he would have told Link to pick his head up and focus on what was still good.

He never got the chance to try.

A bright off-white light and a dark purple one collided with Epona's snout in unison, prompting her to rear up on her hind legs. Link was thrown from his position above the mare and collided with the ground neck-first. Pain flooded his body as he remembered no more, vision sluggishly fading away to black.

He came to slowly, making sure he didn't make a sound in case whatever had attacked him was still there. He first took stock of his surroundings, and noticed that Epona had recovered. He also saw those two lights that had spooked the filly earlier floating next to a Skull Kid, holding the delicate blue of the Ocarina of Time in its wooden hands.

Link froze, fear etched into his awoken face, as the Skull Kid threw an errant glance behind him, revealing the heart-shaped, multicolored, spiked mask attached to its face. That was it. Ghirahim's mask. Somehow, one of the most powerful ancient artifacts imbued with the power of a literal Demon Lord had fallen into the hands of a forest imp with the mind of a small child. It took the Skull Kid a few instants to realize exactly what it was seeing, in which it whirled around and hid the Ocarina of Time behind its back, as if Link lacked the object permanence to remember that it was there.

"Skull Kid… take off the mask… it's evil-" Link said, attempting to coax the lost child into giving him the mask peacefully.

"No way!" it snapped back. "Tatl, Tael! He wants to take the mask!"

The two fairies looked at each other, nodded, and collided with Link, in a similar fashion that they had with Epona. They were less effective, though, as the Hylian was able to brush the fay aside and instead dove for Skull Kid. The lost child was more agile than it looked, though, and before Link even hit the ground, it had somehow managed to leap onto Epona's back, spooking the rust-colored horse once again and causing her to bolt. Link snatched the Skull Kid's leg as his equine companion sprinted through the trees. Unfortunately, his Stalfos Hand wasn't strong enough to endure the constant forces of being dragged along by a horse, and he was forced to let go. Epona darted through a tunnel etched into a tree, and Link gave chase at a full sprint.

The interior of the tree was dark and shadowy, and the Hero of Time failed to realize that there was a massive cliff until it was too late for him to slow down. He tried to stop himself, but he ended up tumbling into the dark abyss. He saw a vast array of multicolored symbols he didn't understand before reality suddenly returned to him. He collided with some kind of flower at the bottom of the fall, which felt squishy and bouncy to the touch. The Hylian came to the realization that he wasn't dead, and quickly got to his feet. He was prepared for anything, but he was still caught off-guard when he realized that Skull Kid- still wearing Ghirahim's mask- was casually floating in front of him with its arms crossed, as if bored.

"What's with that stupid horse of yours?! It doesn't listen to a word that's said to it…" it monologued. "There's no point in riding a thing like that, so I did you a favor and got rid of it… hee hee…"

Link said nothing, only changing his expression into one of raw disdain.

"Aw, boo-hoo. Why the sad face? I just thought I'd have a little… fun… with you," Ghirahim continued.

"I will destroy you," Link vowed quietly.

"Oh, come on," Skull Kid groaned. "Do you really think you can defeat me as I am now? Fool!"

"I know who you are, Ghirahim," Link spat.

Skull Kid stiffened. "What did you call me?"

"I called you what you are," Link replied snarkily, and with a bit more pomp than what was necessary. If he could coax the mask into a fight right now without it running away, he could rip it off of the Skull Kid. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Link. I believe you've met my predecessor. You know, the one that killed Demise?"

"You…" the mask sputtered. "_You! I will make you suffer!_"

Skull Kid started shaking his head violently from side to side, as dark magic spewed from the demon's mask. Pure agony ripped through Link's body as his skin twisted, thickened, and tightened into something that was so inherently _not _Link. In his mindscape, he was surrounded by a seemingly infinite number of those Mad Scrubs that had once infested the path to the Sacred Forest Meadow. Then he was running, trying to sprint away from an enormous Mad Scrub that always seemed to be gaining on him, no matter how often he redoubled his speed.

The scene vanished, and Link stared into the water in front of him a wholly changed being. Gone was the Hylian youth, the Hero of Time. In his place was a Deku Scrub, which seamlessly mimicked Link's every action as he tried to convince himself that none of this was real. Interestingly, his Stalfos Hand had also been warped by the conversion; instead of being bone, it was represented by what appeared to be barkless, withered tree matter. Eventually, he accepted that this new form would just be something that he'd have to work around.

"Hee hee! Now, that's a good look for you!" Ghirahim laughed, kicking Skull Kid's legs about in the air in sadistic glee. "You'll stay looking that way forever!" Then the sealed demon lord floated backwards, still laughing, towards a door that had suddenly unlocked. Link forced his wooden legs to move him forwards, and he found that it was just as easy as running as a Hylian. But that golden Fairy merely butted him backwards, allowing the Skull Kid to escape. And the door slammed shut, keeping Link away, but also separating the fairies from each other.

"Whoa, whoa! Skull Kid, wait for me! I'm still here! Tael, you can't leave without me!" the fairy, evidently named Tatl, hollered before whirling about to stare at the cursed Hylian. "You! If I wasn't dealing with you, I wouldn't have gotten separated from my brother, you little cyclops freak! Well, don't just stand there, Deku Boy! Do something!"

"So you're telling me that I ought to help you because you stopped me from trying to uncurse myself?!" Link demanded, hating the sound of his new Deku Scrub voice. "In case you didn't know, that mask Skull Kid is wearing is possessed by the right hand man of the _fucking_ God of Death! And I've been sent here _specifically_ to destroy that mask, or at least secure it! And _you're_ asking _me_ for help?"

Tatl was just staring at him, slack-jawed. She obviously hadn't expected such an outburst, not to mention the raw truth dripping off of Link's words. Then again, who would have seen this coming from a child?

"C-could you just open that door? C'mon, a helpless little girl is asking you! So hurry up!" the sprite ordered. In that, she was even worse than Navi. "Ohhh, Tael… I wonder if that child will be alright on his own?"

"Considering that he's wearing a possessed mask… no," Link responded.

"Can it, kid," she demanded.

There was no way to go but forwards. So he went.

"Hey, wait for me! Don't leave me behind!" Tatl hollered, darting in front of Link's wooded exterior. "So, uh… that stuff back there… I, um, apologize so… So take me with you!"

"Excuse me? Weren't you just complaining that I'm the reason you got separated?"

"I already said sorry!" the fairy replied shrilly. "Look, you wanna know about that Skull Kid who just ran off, right? Well, I just so happen to have an idea of where he's going. Take me with you and I'll help you out. Deal? Good, so then it's settled!"

Link blinked.

"Now then, I'll be your partner, or-"

"No!" Link objected in a strangled gasp. "Don't you know anything about energy drain?"

"Of course I do!" Tatl stated. "I'll be keeping my distance and whatnot. Although… that was very con… siderate of you… how do you know about energy drain?"

"Later," Link said dismissively, biting memories of Ivan rising back up in his mind.

"Anyway, my name's Tatl, so, uh… it's nice to meet you or whatever."

Link chuckled, or at least he tried to. Being made of wood understandably put a damper on things. "I'm Link. The pleasure is mine." He tried to keep the sarcasm out of his voice and failed miserably.

"Okay, can we get moving now? The more time we waste, the more time Skull Kid has to get away. If I figure something out, I'll tell you. Hopefully, you'll manage to get by without until then!"

Link thought on it more. She had no reason to like him. She blamed him for being separated from her brother, although he was sure that she'd see that it was less him and more Ghirahim. In hindsight, taunting the psychotic mask was probably a bad idea, but he couldn't resist. Nor could he possibly predict the ramifications of doing so. He just shrugged and moved on.

**!0*0!**

Despite the fact that Skull Kid had called it a curse, Link was quickly discovering the perks of having a Deku Scrub's body. He could twirl to increase his speed and fire off little bubbles at the cost of magic power, and perhaps most interestingly, he could burrow into Deku Flowers not unlike the one he'd landed on earlier and then spring out, floating all over the place with an adorable pair of flowery parasols. He could have done without the flowers, as his Hylian form was mildly allergic to them, but it would do.

He walked through a twisted tunnel, not unlike the gravity-warping one in the Forest Temple. It filled him with nausea, but he swallowed the feeling down and carried on. The gloom soon dispersed, and Link was greeted with a massive gear steadily rotating in place within a stone room. A door slammed shut behind him, sealing the path back to the forest. Thoroughly confused, the Hero of Time jogged up a small wooden bridge and up a small flight of stairs, seeing a door and grabbing the handle.

"You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

Link whirled at the sound and was suddenly affronted by none other than the redheaded Happy Mask Salesman. Instantly, his face warped into an expression of pure and unadulterated fury. This was the man that had stolen Ghirahim from the Shadow Temple and allowed it to be stolen by the Skull Kid. Anything that would happen was his fault. Tatl appeared equally distressed, although for probably different reasons, as she tried to hide behind his head.

"I own the Happy Mask Shop," the salesman introduced. "I have searched far and wide in search of… certain masks. During my travels, a very important mask was stolen from me by an imp in the woods. Now I am at a loss… and now I've found you."

Link said nothing, too consumed by rage to think quite straight.

"Now, don't think me rude, but I have been following you…"

_Oh, that's not rude,_ Link thought. _That just makes you a stalker._

"... for I know a way to return you to your former self."

That caught Link's attention. Being a Deku Scrub was interesting, to be sure, but he'd hopped through a child and adult form enough to be uncomfortable in anyone else's skin.

"If you can get me back the precious item that was stolen from you, I will return you to normal. In exchange… all I ask is that you also return that precious mask from the imp."

_How does a longsword to the midsection sound?_

"What? Is that not a simple task?" The Salesman inquired, looking pensive. "To someone like you, it should by no means be difficult…"

Link didn't know what to think about that.

"Except… the one thing is… I'm a very busy fellow… and I must leave this place in _three days_. How grateful I would be if you could bring it back to me before my time is up…"

Link was hit with a disturbing sense of foreboding.

"But yes… you'll be fine. I can see that you are young and have tremendous Courage. I'm sure you'll find it right away. Well then, I'm counting on you…"

Seeing that the Salesman was finally done, Link turned around as quickly as he could and darted out of the door.

"That guy was creepy," Tatl decided.

"I'm not giving him that mask," Link said. "I'll get the mask, sure, but as soon as he gets rid of the curse, I'm going to stab him through the gut."

"Link?!" the fairy squacked, shocked. "That's immoral!"

"You want immoral?" Link snarled. "Try breaking into an ancient Temple specifically designed to protect _that _mask, and then letting it be stolen from you by a Skull Kid with no possible means of controlling the raw dark power within it. _That's_ immoral."

Tatl said nothing.

Link sighed. "Sorry," he said. "It's just that I was sent here to get that mask back by the caretaker of that Temple, who also happens to be the handmaiden of Princess Zelda. I'm understandably really pissed at that creep."

"You know _Zelda_?" Tatl demanded. "Why?"

"It's a long story," Link said dismissively. "One that only brings back memories, most of which are painful. I'd rather not talk about it with someone I just met five minutes ago."

The sprite looked like she wanted to object, but didn't.

Seeing that the conversation was over, Link turned back to the scene in front of him. He'd somehow stumbled into a civilization that looked awfully similar to Hyrule Castle. Even some of Anjou's father's carpenters were hauling massive planks of lumber. That gave Link a headache. Vaguely, he wondered if they were preparing for something like Summer's Day.

Then he made the mistake of looking up.

**!0*0!**

"Okay, that guy is demented as well as creepy," Tatl decided.

The Hylian she had teamed up with nodded in agreement. He was a Hylian now, having just removed the Deku Scrub curse that Ghirahim had put on him. Link had also been brutally shaken about by a furious Salesman when he realized that Link didn't have Majora's Mask. Apparently, Ghirahim had taken a new name over the millenia.

"Now you see why I don't want to give the mask to him."

"You've proven your point," she relented. "We'll try to not give him the mask when we defeat it."

Link nodded, stretching his newly re-acquired Hylian limbs as he made for the nearest gate. Then he stopped, and looked up at the grotesque moon glaring down at Clock Town.

"Tick tock, Ghirahim," he stated, before continuing on his way.

At the beginning of each Cycle, Link would repeat those words before setting off to continue his quest to stop the moon, and save as many people in this realm of Termina as he could in the process. Every time Link played the Song of Time, that progress was lost. He should have been more fazed by it, as Tatl helpfully and repeatedly pointed out. He guessed he was used to people forgetting who he was by then, but the fact that most of the Terminians shared the faces and appearances of the Hylians that he had come to love should have nullified that. In fact, he nearly choked on his own surprise when he first entered Romani Ranch, something that Tatl had never let him live down.

Regardless of where he was, however much time he had left before the moon fell, or how hopeless it seemed, Link pushed on.

**!0*0!**

After what seemed to be an eternity later, he won.

He really couldn't have done it without the aid of the Fierce Deity Mask, an artifact he'd been forced to purchase in exchange for almost all of his other veneers. It gave him the powers of a god in Link's own form, equipped with spotless armor and a double helix broadsword that rivaled the length of the Stygian Light. He had no idea why Ghirahim had let him get it, but it had mentioned something about doing their final battle 'properly', whatever that meant.

Skull Kid had had his redemption with the Four Giants, who had hurled the cataclysmic moon into space. Clock Town was bursting with fireworks, celebrating the fact that they weren't all dead more than the Festival. Everyone was happy, and that was all Link wanted.

Unfortunately, 'everyone' happened to include the Salesman.

"Oh… so the evil has left the mask after all," the man said, dejectedness dripping off of his voice. Link whirled, and saw the husk of Majora's Mask sitting casually in the palm of the Salesman's hands. Strangely, that pervading feeling of unease he had associated with Ghirahim still lingered. "Well, now… I finally have it back. Since I am in the midst of my travels, I must bid you farewell."

He stalked between Link and Skull Kid, and Link took the opportunity to make a dive for the Mask. He'd heard everything the Salesman had said, but he didn't trust this particular psychopath half as far as he could throw him. The redhead stopped, and turned to stare at Link.

"Shouldn't you be returning home as well?" he said coldly. Link then realized that the strange sensation he felt wasn't coming from the mask, but from the Salesman himself, not to mention the fact that the feeling was severely diminished from how it had felt fighting Ghirahim in the moon. That confirmed it; the evil was gone, and there was no immediate threat. "Whenever there is a meeting, a parting is sure to follow. But that parting need not last forever… Whether a parting be forever or merely for a short time… that is up to you. With that, please excuse me… But, my, you sure have managed to make quite a number of people happy. In more than one world… This is truly a good happiness. You wouldn't want to squander that, child."

The threat couldn't have been more obvious. If Link tried to follow the Salesman, the Hero would die, and that would hurt an incomprehensible number of lives. The realization kept Link in a stunned shock just long enough for the Salesman to vanish into thin air, never to be seen by the Hylian again.

"The evil was… gone," Tatl said, in a voice that hardly sounded like Tatl at all. Tatl was more sarcastic and argumentative. "That man wasn't lying."

"Still, if I ever see that little shit ever again, I'll seal him in the Shadow Temple," Link vowed. And then I'll let him rot, beat him down, and when all that's done, I'll burn him alive. I'll salt the ground where he died so that nothing will ever grow there again. Maybe I'll feed his charred corpse to the rats, who will then die and be eaten by other rats, so that he can spend eternity as rat food."

"Have I ever told you how scary you can be, kid?"

She had. Link had told her the whole story of his first adventure in Hyrule over the course of the first few dozen Cycles or so, but had omitted the second one, because remembering Ivan still stung too sharp for him to recount. This decision led to an awkward conversation in the Knife Chamber, when Tatl learned about Link's preceding fairy partner through the Hylian's nightmares. Apparently, he talked when he slept. He'd then been forced to tell the golden sprite all about the second excursion, with all the pain that it brought him.

"Anyway… since our parts are done… I guess this is goodbye," Tatl finished. "Good luck, Link."

"You too," Link replied. "Make sure Skull Kid doesn't steal any more creepy masks from morally incorrect salesmen wandering the forest, okay?"

The last thing he heard was the sound of Tatl's lilting laughter as he played the Prelude of Light, warping himself and Epona to the Temple of Time.

**!0*0!**

The transformation masks that Link had borne throughout his sojourn in Termina slowly faded away into the air, but the Fierce Deity did not. Link liked to imagine that this disappearance translated to the souls within being freed and finally put to rest, but because the Link-esque mask didn't have a soul within it- that he knew of, anyway- it couldn't just disappear. Putting it on, however, revealed that it had no effect on his form.

Ordon was beginning to come into full view, and already, Link could make out the lights of New Lon Ranch. He left this ranch caught between a child and an adult, although he seemed to lean more towards the latter, but his quest in Termina changed that. He was fully matured, no longer trapped between his mental and physical ages. As Cremia had said, being an adult was about how one carries themselves, and that made Link an adult in her eyes. The hug was nice, too.

He summoned his Stalfos Shield and peered into its semi-reflective surface. For some odd reason, he wanted to see how he looked before he went into the farm again; he figured Malon would probably comment on it. He looked haggard; massive bags had accumulated under his eyes, he'd grown thinner from running himself ragged all across Termina Field, and the haunted look in his eyes had only been accentuated. On his childish figure, they were disturbing. But had he been the adult he saw himself as, it would have hardly stood out.

So he didn't care all that much.

Movement began to make itself known within the Ranch, and soon Malon was standing outside to greet him. "You're back," she stated. "What was it that Zelda wanted to talk to you about?"

"Nothing," Link replied, his voice hoarse. "Nothing important. All that matters is right here."

He threw himself into Malon's grasp, tugging her into an embrace. That embrace was reciprocated, and in that moment, he knew that no matter what came next, he would be happy. At journey's end, he was finally home.

**No, I'm not writing Majora's Mask. Partially because that would be brutal, but mostly because I don't have enough experience to be able to write anything good on it. Please don't kill me. If you want MM for this fic so bad, write it yourself. Really.**

**NMMTD: Nothing.**


	32. Author's Note

**A lot of time and effort went into writing ToM. It took nearly seven months and two name changes to get the whole thing down. Originally, I was going to name it 'The Flow of Time is Always Cruel', or TFOTIAC. Then I decided to change it to 'The Hero of Nothing' because I can't alphabet and thought the acronym was THoR and not ThoN. Then I finally settled on Tears of Memory, because 'Tears' could be interpreted as being synonymous with 'rips' or actual physical tears from crying. Both work in this scenario.**

**Like I said in the prologue, ToM was largely based on my own experiences in MQ. However, this also came with a vastly different tone. It was supposed to be more playful and taunt itself relentlessly, and that sort of carried over with that whole thing with the Goron Tunic and Grawg in the Lost Woods. Then I realized that I could easily weave a story about overcoming one's demons with this as the framework, and the whole thing just sort of spiraled into the magnum opus it is now.**

**And then for the explanation I feel like you all want: Why is ToM such an emotional roller coaster? To quote Robert Frost, "No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader". My original outline for TFOTIAC didn't include any of the twists that are supposed to occur throughout the story, except for Zelda sending him back a second time. I never planned for Ganondorf to attack Hyrule again, nor to kill off Ivan, nor that Link's dad was a traitor, or anything like that. Heck, I didn't even intend for Arn to be mentioned in the story at all. I molded those as I went along, trying to add a narrative that would grip me just as much as the readers. I mean, how is anyone supposed to expect a twist that even the author didn't see coming? The entire story sort of went like this, and then I would have to go back a few chapters to add suitable and subtle foreshadowing. One time, I even went back to the prologue to add a little bit more about the Kokiritarian Fairy Board, just so the reader wouldn't have totally forgotten about it by Chapter XXV. Then I go ahead and mention it in Chapter XVII when Link goes to see the Great Fairy. Chekhov's Gun, people. It was a good way to release Ivan without stirring up a ton of questions, like it would have if I had dropped Link off at the Temple of Time, like I had mainly intended to happen. The side effect of that is I ruined Link's life and thoroughly built up the expectation that nobody remembered again, which isn't all that much of a problem, honestly. It worked out, even if I've probably given you all Stockholm syndrome by now.**

**There's one huge piece of advice that I will give to any aspiring fanfic writer: Talk to people. If you have a fic that was inspired by another fic, then go reach out to whoever wrote that fic and ask them to give it a read. ChangelingRin (go subscribe to their youtube channel Shalerrin, by the way) did that for me, and it's been fantastic. If Tears of Memory inspired you to write a fic- any fic- just reach out to me. If it's on a fandom that I have any clue about, I'll be happy to give it a read and leave a few reviews here and there. Don't be afraid of us fanfiction writers- we're usually pretty chill, or at least the ones I've interacted with are.**

**Now, for a segment I like to call the 'Lost Scenes'. There were ideas that I wanted to put into Tears of Memory, but that didn't make the final cut for various reasons. Allow me to run you through a few of them. I'll also be shoehorning in a quick song for each chapter if they fit.**

**Prologue: I was originally planning to write a communal meal scene which has Link interact with the other Kokiri a bit more, but it took away some of the bite of the confrontation with Mido at the entrance to the Deku Tree, so this got scrapped. Song: Line of Fire by Junip.**

**Chapter 1: I was contemplating writing a stupid bit about how Ivan convinced Mido to down some vodka in order to get him to move away from the Great Deku Tree, but I didn't write it because alcolohism isn't good. Song: There, There by Radiohead.**

**Chapter 2: Nothing here. Song: Wrong by Depeche Mode.**

**Chapter 3: Nothing here. Song: Hurt by Johnny Cash.**

**Chapter 4: Nothing here. Song: Prayers for Rain by The Cure.**

**Chapter 5: Still nothing. Song: A Forest by The Cure.**

**Chapter 6: I wanted to write more about the cows, but I stopped because I do, in fact, value Link's sanity. This isn't at first apparent, what with In and Out and… well, you know, the rest of the story, but I do, I promise. Song: 2 + 2 = 5 by Radiohead.**

**Chapter 7: I touch on this in the author's note. Song: Halo by Depeche Mode.**

**Chapter 8: There was a fourth rejected BOTW Guardian that was a giant crab or something, but I totally forgot about it, so I didn't write it until I added it to Chapter XXIX after the fact. Song: Don't Do It from Portal 2.**

**Chapter 9: Nothing here. Song: Forest Temple from Ocarina of Time. What did you expect? This song is perfect.**

**Chapter 10: Nothing here. Song: Creep by Radiohead.**

**Chapter 11: Still nadie. Song: Go To Sleep by Radiohead.**

**Chapter 12: I was intending to give you guys a party scene, but again, alcohol, so that got nixed. I just allude to the beverages in the next chapter. Song: Disintegration by The Cure.**

**Chapter 13: Nothing. Song: Stripped by Depeche Mode.**

**Chapter 14: This one is a weird one. I had a lot of good ideas, but all of them actually made it into the final version. DL and Nierak were the two big ones, but also the Cuccos. Song: Concrete Halls from Minecraft.**

**Chapter 15: Nothing. I just had a blast writing about everything being on fire. Should I be worried? Around here, though, I wanted to add something about those Raiders from chapter 5, and how they'd all been killed by the new demons (Lynels, Maoqiu, etc.) This was meant to illustrate how these demons were on their own agenda, and were really just there to kill everything. Plus, it would give more of a presence to these demons. I didn't write it because I didn't feel like I had time, as ToM was already becoming a huge monolith at that point. Song: 'Bombs for Throwing At You' from Portal 2.**

**Chapter 16: Nothing here. Song: Torture by Les Friction.**

**Chapter 17: I wanted to make Link unwilling to do the Shadow Temple, but I found that it went against his character, so this got nixed. Song: Machete by Moby.**

**Chapter 18: I wasn't entirely sure how to address the Gerudo, or how Link was going to get out of there after Hookshotting across. Eventually, I just settled on having Nabooru bite the bullet. Before that, though, I had Link warp back to the Shadow Temple with Farore's Wind. But then I forgot about Farore's Wind until I was in editing mode, and I had to go back and explain why Link didn't warp out when he was falling. Song: Munich by The Editors.**

**Chapter 19: This one was a struggle, mainly to get Link access to the Wastes. His first approach was going to be more direct- walk up and make the trade (song of storms for access). I was also going to have him go forwards in time to first enter the Temple as Adult Link, but then I realized that I could shove in a Wind Waker reference and shoot him out of a cannon. For that reason, Link never learns the Requiem of Spirit, which is a convenient plot point when it comes to chasing Ganondorf in the child timeline. Song: Pyramid Song by Radiohead.**

**Chapter 20: I thought of making Twinrova a bit more… how should I put this… overt with her advances, but I shut that down because, again, I don't hate Link. Song: Climbing Up The Walls by Radiohead.**

**Chapter 21: Nothing here. This was just a nice chapter about Link and Malon (and putting Ivan in a jar.) Song: Untitled by The Cure.**

**Chapter 22: I was going to have Link really struggle with the Forest Barrier because of the whole ignoring-the-ceiling thing, but then I replayed the entire game and realized that the same sort of puzzle exists in the Spirit Temple, so that had to get cut for continuity reasons. I also don't have Link have the defensive buff in his normal playthrough for… reasons. I just wanted Ivan to shine before I, well, killed him off. Song: Star Forge Theme from KOTOR.**

**Chapter 23: Shield Surfing in OOT is total BS and has no right to exist. I just figured, 'hey, wouldn't this be faster?' I did originally have Link deal with the Redead on his own, then I changed it to Zelda killing the Redead because… Link deserved it for the 0 IQ play from seconds before. Song: Dark Matter by Les Friction.**

**Chapter 24 [False Epilogue]: This one was… difficult. I spent weeks trying to figure out just how to send Link back in time, while still making sense in the grand scheme of things. I eventually decided on having Ivan Mind Hack Link into going back, for the reasons I mentioned in the following chapter. But originally, I wanted Ivan to be more on Link's side in this before realizing that that wouldn't make much sense, given that Ivan's about to die and cares about Link too much to let him watch him pass on, thus creating that gaping void in Link's heart. I debated this a lot, but came to the conclusion that Ivan shouldn't be perfect. He should be flawed, and thus, should prioritize keeping Link mentally stable over the chance that things might repeat. Song: I Am Not A Moron! from Portal 2.**

**Chapter 25: Nothing here. Song: Hurt by Johnny Cash. Maybe I would have continued the long-standing joke of Link not knowing how to talk to royalty and have him call King Daphnes "Your Highworshipfullnessency" or something like that and, just talking about it, I really regret not doing this. But the joke was old and had run its course.**

**Chapter 26: I debated killing off Ingo and keeping Talon alive, but decided against it because it just didn't fit as cleanly as I wanted it to. Song: The Same Deep Water As You by The Cure.**

**Chapter 27: I might have introduced Pipit here, but decided against it for some reason. Song: Walking in My Shoes by Depeche Mode.**

**Chapter 28: I debated showing how Ruto, Darunia, and Impa killed the Elder Skullfos, but decided against it because it was more funny to have Impa drop the bomb on the trio of kids and the reader, as opposed to just the former. Song: Divine Decree from Fire Emblem: Awakening.**

**Chapter 29: Nothing. Song: Chaos & Chaos (Ablaze) from Fire Emblem: Awakening.**

**Chapter 30: Nothing. Song: Paranoid Android by Radiohead.**

**Post-Epilogue: I was considering having a tiny sliver of a scene set as a conversation between the Hero's Shade (OOT Link) and TP Link, who is his… grandson? Great-grandson? Something like that. I might have described a bit of his life in Ordon with Malon, and then framed ToM in the light of Shade telling TP Link his story. This got cut because it didn't make much sense thematically. I was going to have his lingering regrets be that he couldn't save Ivan, and the others in both decayed timelines. But it was just too long and too schizophrenic, so I decided against it. **

**Wherever Nierak, our Lord and Savior, is present: Corrupt by Depeche Mode.**

**Huge shoutout to Dimensional Links, Acheronta Movebo, and Inner Demons, the main inspirations for this fic. Even bigger shoutout to ChangelingRin and everyone else who left a review, gave a fave, and followed this fic to the end. Thank you all so much!**


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